The Black Swan and the Duck
by purpledancer69
Summary: Two years after, Fakir wonders if magic will ever return as Duck struggles with remaining a duck. That same day, a black feather causes the Prince and Princess' return, as Drosselmyer's story may not yet be finished. This time, his dark plot twists as a black swan brings magic to their worlds again, and awakens a lost past that Duck and Fakir become stuck in the middle of.
1. Chapter 1

**_Prologue: The Duck and the Black Swan_**

_If you were to tell me a story about the Raven and the Swan,_

_I'd simply have to tell you, _

_You know it all wrong._

_What happy ending is there for a beast?_

_The innocent heart should find love at the least?_

_What battle they had, do you say?_

_They found themselves a princess!_

A glorious day!

_A black feathered lover!_

_A Prince all in white!_

_A promise of love, with all of their might, _

_Together at last, after the Fight! _

_But a little small Swan, _

_With a Quack and a Cluck, _

_Had given it all, and had little Luck, _

_But when a Knight in Armor, _

_Sees a Lady in pain, _

_The Crow and the Swan's Story, _

_Is not yet slain. _

_Drosselmeyer had returned in his chair. _

_A small little doll beside him and stared.  
__  
For leaving the story alone, was a promise he could not bare,_

What more was there to add ?_  
_

_What more could be prepared?_

_And yet the Knight wondered, _

_As he wrote words in his book, _

_And if they'd ever take life,_

_Like his old ones once took,_

_Two Years had passed,_

_And Duck was still a duck. _

_He read his words, _

_And yet no luck._

His powers had left, with the town all a norm.

_He went to the water, _

_And saw the little duck who he'd said he'd care,_

_Her hope to be human was bleak,_

_But still there._

_And when a crowd formed in the towns square. _

_They left together,_

_To see what this group had bared._

_Inside the circle was a dancing of two,_

_A girl in red,_

_A boy in blue,_

_A girl's locks of a raven black,_

_The others of white, _

_Like a swan's back. _

_They stopped as they finished,_

_A boy they did seek,_

_The knight who they sought,_

_Wondered how this could be?_

_The two joined the knight,_

_The Prince and Princess, _

_To speak of a happiness, but also a distress._

_Their kingdom had found,_

_An evil at their doors. _

_A long black feather,_

_With a magic aura of the dark,_

_A possible warning for what was to be embarked?_

_Not of a raven, not of a crow,_

_Of a taller bird, _

_Of what? Who's to know?_

_But they wondered if the magic,_

_Awakened a story alive,_

_For what could the story maker,_

_Have in store this time?_

_As the Duck left the room,_

_Clearly distraught._

_She wished she could help. _

_But she knew she could not._

_They said they would return back,_

_Since the bridge to this world could open,_

_But should a darkness grow,_

_They might require a token._

_They would need their knight,_

_The Prince hoped that, _

_ Princess Tutu even might,_

_Return with her powers,_

_As were unlike the rest,_

_Still grateful for her doing, _

_But they felt it hopeless._

_They parted with a sigh,_

_The knight all a wonder, _

_Should a dark feather fall on their town's doors, _

_What secrets did it blunder?_

_What kind of story,_

_Was to be put to the test?_

_On this Golden Crown town,_

_Which had only just begun to rest. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: A New Beginning and A New Magic**

Fakir sat at his desk. Ahiru wouldn't return, and persisted she stay at the pond. He had a feeling it had to do with Mytho and Rue returning...and Mytho's mention of his hope for Princess Tutu to return should the feather cause problems. He knew that it was Ahiru's natural form to be a duck...but even he saw the way she wished to be human again.

On the other hand, what could his grandfather hope to achieve by starting a new story? How could he control it if he had no way to write it? He had broke the clock mechanism. And yet something was stirring. Even so...it seemed the magic hadn't reached this world yet. He wondered if it was best that it didn't.

He sat in his chair and closed his book. He didn't want to stare at the words any longer. He could will it for all of his might and yet still the words had not came true. If he could even make this one sentence come true...even if he could never write again, this would be it. He wondered why he'd longed for such an event to happen...was it his own selfish want for his own happiness...though he'd neglect to admit it. Or...was it he just couldn't the fact that everything was as it should be. His thoughts were dangerous.

Meddling with fate...it was dangerous. Had his grandfather...had Drosselmeyer really returned? And for what reason? ...even so they assumed too much. If every feather that landed on the ground from a bird scared them into thinking the Raven had returned or something else had begun they'd be frantic all their lives. Still he'd felt the darkness, the way it spread onto the table like a parasite. The way it had felt in his hand. Still what kind of bird produced such a long feather? No raven or crow for certain.

He looked out the window. The sun had already set and the dark sky was blue and starry- but then. He went closer to the window as a looming shadow like a dark cloud, covered the sky as if to make the town black from right to left, as if it was passing above. He looked saw nothing but a simple black cloud...but the darkness...was uncanny.

He waited until it passed...he questioned his ability to see outside, and felt an urge to go find Ahiru...but waited. The dark cloud passed, and so did his reluctance to leave the house.

He opened the door and felt an urge to look down, as if he felt hesitant that the ground was even there when he saw...a feather. A long black feather. Like the one Mytho and Rue had shown him from their kingdom. Was it in fact magic? He looked down the street as each door had one on its doorstep...like a warning...like you couldn't leave your house without facing the darkness waiting at your doorstep. He felt a cool breeze brush past and noticed that the feather didn't even flutter with the wind...yet when he took it in his hand was as light as a...well feather.

_"Ahhhhhh!"_

He heard a shrill scream from the woods. Was something going on in there? Wasn't Duck still there from her departure earlier? He rushed out of his house, still holding the feather, and ran for the woods. He found the lake Ahiru swam at but...she wasnt there.

"Ahiru! Duck! Where are you?" He said looking around frantically.

Did the dark cloud get her? Did something happen? Had she not returned here earlier today?

He heard a ruffle in the bushes and turned towards them. Something was in them! An animal? The dark bird that had left the black feathers? He took two hesitant steps towards it and brushed the leaves aside.

He looked down to see Ahiru in human form, covering herself naked, with wide stunned eyes, and a beat red face. He returned her stunned stare as his face blushed, before jumping back as she let out an embarrassed squeal and let the bushes close.

"Ahiru?"

"Why would you do that?!" She said, sounding desperate and scared.

"How was I supposed to know...what happened?"

"Ill tell you when I have some clothes..." She said nervously.

"I don't have any of your clothes...ahem." He said to the talking bush. "But...I'll go get you something."

He ran back to his room and looked around. He took the blanket from his bed. But he had an urge to look at his book. He opened it to the page and stared at it for a moment, before it dawned on him that Ahiru was in a forrest, which any person or animal could enter...he'd figured his return should be quick of he'd never hear the end of it. He set the feather down and left in a rush.

Ahiru waited. She wondered why...why did she suddenly become human again? She loved it but she had no necklace from Princess Tutu...she had no powers...no story. She felt a shiver as she prayed Fakir would return soon. She played in her mind his face when he saw most of her naked...she blushed. What was he thinking?

"Ahiru?"

"...uhm...yes?"

"Here i got you a blanket...its the best I had in such short notice." He tossed it over the bush to her side. She looked at it. Now how could she wrap herself up? She stood up. She'd aged two years...her hair wasn't in her braid and it was loose. Her body...well Fakir swallowed...had changed...but she still sounded like Ahiru. She was struggling to keep her blanket on as she walked as it parted when she strode, and was constricting as it wrapped around her.

"Do you need help?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Uhm...I'm fine I just..." She said trying to keep it closed, stumbling as she walked.

"Here." He wrapped the blanket tighter around her and lifted her up into his arms as he walked back to his small cabin-house.

Ahiru looked up at him and blushed. She was naked in a blanket in Fakir's arms...she'd wanted to help Mytho and Rue...not turn into a helpless girl. Still she wiggled her toes and breathed a sigh of freedom. He opened the door and set her on the bed.

"Now I don't have any- ahem- girl clothes...so I'll see what I can find at the Academy but you'll have to wait here. _Then_ you can tell me how...it happened." He left the cabin, as he felt the need to pinch his arm. Two years of normal. Two years of Ahiru as her duck-self. Two years since the last bird-nemesis struck their town in his grandfather's story. Now...now Ahiru was back and another dark magic had entered their town and the kingdom. He entered the Acadamy...now where did he see those spare uniforms the other day...

Ahiru looked around. Not much had changed. She noticed lately that Fakir had been writing...but he seemed to throw most out. She noticed the book on his desk. She walked over and saw a black feather on it...like Rue and Mytho's! Did that mean he'd got one too!? Oh no! And what if something happened? She took it in her fingers carefully and as she lifted it off the sheet of paper, when she noticed one line of writing on the book. She read it and held her breath. She read it twice just to be sure.

_And then, the young duck emerged from the water, and as graceful as a swan returned to her former self, the human girl she once was, the girl that saved the town from its previous unhappy ending...so she could be happy. Just once more._

Ahiru shut the book. Did Fakir cause her transformation back? Why...he said he'd care for her...but never like this? And how could his powers work if the...the magic had returned. Drosselmeyer had let Fakir's powers reawaken...and black feathers of dark magic to invade? She worried another story was starting...she just hoped this time...she handle it on her own...without Princess Tutu's powers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: A New Story, A New Life**

Fakir then walked in and closed the door behind him.

"I found these in the school. Its a spare uniform I think." He tossed the bag at her and it fell at the floor. It looked like a girls uniform. "Its all I could find."

"...thanks." Ahiru nodded. She was surprised when it the clothes looked like hers...as they were wrapped in a bunch like they did when she changed into a duck in the past. "But what am I going to wear tonight."

"Uhm." Fakir never thought of the fact she wouldn't want to sleep in a school uniform. Plus she didn't even have any dance attire...let alone regular clothes. He walked over to his dresser and pulled out and oversized t-shirt and - and...

"I have to wear your clothes?!" Ahiru squealed.

"It's all I have..." Fakir said the shirt still in his hand. She looked embarrassed and confused.

She actually was wondering if she should ask him about the book. If he'd actually wrote that. If he'd begun to write a story about her.

"You can have the bed tonight. Tomorrow we'll get you some actual clothes and see if we can talk to the instructor about getting you into the school." Fakir sighed and left the shirt on the bed as he walked outside.

It wasn't that he didn't want Ahiru to be back...but it wasn't something he was prepared for. He questioned if he should write more down and see if it would come to life as well... but then again, he hesitated. If something was going on, his own interference might cause problems. He'd have to wait to see what part Ahiru had in this. Whatever _this_ was.

"_Ah so the little town is having some problems again. What a silly man he is to think that the prince and princess of another story are the key to his issues. His little creation's feathers, dancing about, looking for the one who he seeks for vengeance. And my Fakir stepped into the story at the perfect time, awakening Duck to a human again." Drosselmyer sat at his chair. "Did they really think I'd leave to let them rest, when so much was left in the air. When they know I love the art of ballet so much...to homage such a performance as the graceful white bird, and the lake that sits in the middle of the story and the town. I had forgotten about my scrap notes, my written prologue seems to becoming alive, and i shall thread pieces to this story together now, as an epilogue of my last...now how could I leave such a story alone? My doll Ezura has let me write one more story, all because I told the doll it was for love...or how does she say it, "lovey dovey zura!" Haha! One more tragedy for the little duck, the little ugly duckling growing up...and yet can't turn back into a swan." The image on the cog, turned from Fakir outside to an image of Princess Tutu and back to the sleeping Ahiru in Fakir's shirt, in his bed._

Ahiru woke up and got into her uniform. She was put her hair back into its long braid, when she realized she had nothing to hold it back with. She never wore her hair down in public! Plus would anyone even remember her? She wondered where Fakir had slept...she needed her own room again. She saw Fakir on his chair asleep in a blanket. She wondered how much sleep he'd gotten like that. She tapped on his shoulder. He didn't wake up. She lightly tapped on it again. He stirred a little. She spun around on her heel to turn away, having gave up, and lost her balance and tripped forward, her leg kicking up behind her and hitting his chair knocking it over, waking him up suddenly. She jumped up and looked stunned at what she'd done.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry -" She said bowing in a row, at least ten times.

Fakir shook his head. It seemed as if Ahiru still hadn't grown out of her clumsiness. He looked up at her and was about to tell her to stop repeating herself, when he noticed that she was in her uniform. Her legs looked longer, as if she'd grown taller, and her hair was down in a orange spill of hair, her little stray piece still dancing on the top of her head. She looked...

"It's fine." Fakir said getting up a little gingerly. "I needed to get up anyway if we need to get you back into the school...and get you clothes. Why is your hair like that?"

"Like this?" Ahiru was surprised. "Well I didn't have anything to do it with...and well I didn't know what else to do so I-"

"Well you should keep it that way. You don't look so childish. Common lets go get you some clothes." Fakir said, putting his own uniform jacket on and walking out the door.

"Uhm...okay." She followed. Did Fakir just compliment her? He'd helped her out a lot at the end of the last story...but he liked her hair down? She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror on the way out. She saw herself blush. She didn't look childish? Did she?

"So where are we going?"

"We'll just go in a few stores. I have some money saved up."

"I don't want Fakir to use his money on me!" She said.

"Don't worry about it. I have nothing I need it for anyway." He said as they walked into the town square.

"Hey Fakir, who's that?"

They turned around to see Pique and Lilie. Pique looked angry and Lilie looked like her deviously cheerful self.

"Oh does Fakir-kun have a girlfriend?!" Lilie said happily looking at Ahiru. Pique looked rather peeved.

"No, this is Ahiru. Fakir stepped back from the two girls. Ahiru shifted her eyes. Pique and Lilie didn't remember her? Fakir realized this too. "She's new here, she's going to join the school."

"Oh competition for Fakir's heart?!" Lilie whispered to Pique with a wide smile.

Pique rolled her eyes. "Nice to meet you Ahiru, we'll see you in class on Monday." Pique dragged Lilie the other way.

Fakir looked to Ahiru who looked shaken. It was as if Duck had always been a Duck for the past years, even when Mytho and Rue were around...like she never existed. "Give it a week or two Ahiru. They'll come around. Plus I'm sure they'll become friends with you again."

Ahiru nodded. She followed him into a store, and he gave her some money.

"Just tell me when your done. Then we'll go get you a leotard and tights." He walked out of the store. She looked at his money and sighed. Fakir had been strange since she'd become human again. She looked around and found some shirts, a few skirts and pairs of shorts...and quickly parted.

"Finished already?" Fakir said. Ahiru nodded. "After we'll have to convince the director that you should be able to join the school again." They walked into the shop, and a tubbier lady walked up to them, with rouge lips and an extreme amount of makeup on.

"Do you need a new leotard my darliiinng?" She said taking Ahiru to a change room.

"Yes but-"

"I have the purrrrfect one for you. You, boy, sit here and tell me if you think my judgement is not ideal for this beautiful fire-headed girl."

"I uhm was just going to-" Fakir was going to head out when she took him by the nape of his collar and sat him down. Did she say _fire-headed girl?_ He questioned what he had gotten them into. She went to a rack and threw a few around, as Fakir dodged the falling body suits.

"AHA!" She yelled. "I found the one purrfect for this girl!"

"Are you like this to all your customers?" Fakir asked.

"I know! I am the best am I not?" She said and went into the change room and gave Ahiru the suit and tights. She left and smiled at the boy. "You're going to love this." She said as he raised his eyebrow at her.

"Love what?" He said. What could possibly be so great about a body suit and leotard that-

Ahiru walked out. She was wearing a pale blue spaghetti strapped bodysuit with a v-heart-shaped neckline that dipped low enough for a slight bit of her cleavage to show. The skirt was attached and flowed lightly out, delicate against the pale white-pink tights and pink ballet pointe-shoes.

"So what do you thinkkkk?" The woman smirked at Fakir who'd sat speechless. He snapped out of it.

"It's nice...ahem."

"You think so?" Ahiru said as she turned to the mirror. It did look nice, didn't it?

"Then you will get eet!" The larger lady sung. "Madame Budoe is always right!" She hushed her back into the change room where she returned to her school clothes. And then rung the it all up on the register. Fakir handed her the money. "What eh gentleman, buying the clothes for his lady."

"But I'm not-"

"Eh, eh, now go with the outfit before I find another ten for you to buy the beauty!" She shooed him out, as Ahiru followed obliviously.

"So how do we convince the director I can join?" Ahiru said.

Fakir sighed. "I'm not sure. We've had various directors since 's...well departure. None which have stuck. Until we get a permanent one it may be hard to persuade them...but I'm certain we can figure it out."

"I really want to join again. I missed dancing so much." Ahiru crossed her arms sadly.

"Then lets go now and find out." Fakir said as they walked to the academy and to the director's office. Fakir knocked on the door.

"Come in." Fakir didn't recognize the voice...a new director?

He opened the door to see a man in a white high collared button up shirt, open to his collar bone and black pants. His hair was silver-grey and dusted over his narrow face. He looked older, but not aged. He had two red earrings in his ears and pale grey eyes. "So I see a new student is in our midst?"

"Yes director-"

"Kuro Kugamaii. Director Kugamaii. And you are?"

"Fakir. This is Ahiru. She's danced before and hopes to join."

"Well then an audition would seem in place, then, do you not agree...Ahiru?"

"Yes." She nodded agreeing. She didn't want to screw this up.

"Good, then I'll see the two of you in the studio once you've changed."

"The _two _of us?" Fakir repeated.

"Yes, I think you'd like to help your friend in her audition? Plus the third year students all will be working on their pas-de-deux, with a male partner." He gave Fakir a challenging look. "Wouldn't you like to help her, or of course if you doesn't care if she auditions-"

"No, we'll be there." Fakir cut him off. Ahiru looked nervous in the presence of their challenging looks.

Fakir took Ahiru's shoulders and lead her out of the room.

"Thank you Director-sensei!" She nodded as she left the room.

Director Kugamaii looked out the window. He'd find the two...the two he was looking for eventually. He'd seen them dance before in the past...in a prologue a long time ago.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: Pas De Deux**

Fakir changed his clothes. What was this new director thinking? Most auditions were solos for the reason that the person auditioning didn't depend on the partner...or to show male strength...never for a woman's audition on the first try. He hoped Ahiru would have it in her to perform the way she did when she had Princess Tutu behind her.

Ahiru put on her new leotard and her pointe shoes. She needed to stretch terribly, and she needed to warm up. She did some side stretches, hamstrings, and went up and down on pointe with some plies. She'd dreamed of dancing again as a Duck, but now...two years later...did she have it in her to perform to the new Director's expectations? She went into the room to see the Director already waiting.

"Good, now once your partner arrives, we'll start." He said looking at her. He wasn't old and crotchety , or even deranged like Cat-sensei was...he seemed aged by his hair...but his face was somewhat youthful. Maybe he was in his 30's...forty's at most? Ahiru bit her lip. He seemed professional...and yet he wasn't wearing any dance wear himself.

Fakir walked in and saw Ahiru already standing there. He walked beside her. "What do you want us to perform?"

"Swan Lake, Pas-de-deux. The Prince and the White Swan. Do you know?" He said turning away.

"It's a harder, but we've been taught on occasion." Fakir answered, as he saw Ahiru's face drop a bit. "Follow me." He leaned to her and whispered.

Ahiru nodded, just before the Director turned around again. "Good. I'll have the music ready in a moment. You may prepare."

Ahiru gulped. Her hair was up in a bun, and tried to think about being graceful in her new leotard and shoes. They'd barely been worked in. She tried to recall the pas-de-deux from Swan Lake which she'd performed once as Princess Tutu on her own. She didn't know if she could actually do it as herself this time and looked to Fakir who somehow managed to look as confident as possible. Then again this wasn't his audition...it was hers.

Director Kugamaii played the music and they got in position. She began slightly awkwardly, bending down and reaching over her toe on the floor.

"_Think...like a Swan. Like a swan." _She repeated in her mind, harshly to herself.

She rose and felt Fakir's hands softly over the outside of hers. "Relax." He whispered to her. She felt him guide her into a pirouette, and into her arabesque and ponche, as his hands beneath hers gave her a slight reassurance. Suddenly they began to dance as if nobody else was in the room.

Fakir felt a slight bit of strange comfort in this pas-de-deux. He'd only done it once or twice before with another partner, one of which time happened to be Rue. Still, as he leaned over as Ahiru arched her back to the floor via his support, he wondered why now, with Ahiru it seemed so familiar.

Ahiru felt a grace come to her like an old memory in Fakir's supporting arms. She knew he wouldn't drop her, and with his support, the pieces of the routine came in her mind. The pain of her shoes came secondary to the lightness she felt. She almost felt like she did as Princess Tutu dancing...she almost felt...graceful...like a swan.

The two finished just as the music took pause, and the Director gave a slow applaud. "Very nice. Other than the odd, tweak I'd say you both have an apt ability for such a pas-de-deux. I'd recommend you stay partners for this reason. Ahiru was it? Well I will see you both in class on monday. We will set you up then with a room. Do you need one as well?" He looked to Fakir, with his silver eyes.

"No, I remain in my own home, just outside the grounds."

"Suit yourself." He nodded and began to walk away. "It seems I am on the beginning of finding my pair." He said to himself as he disappeared into the long hallway to his office.

Fakir looked to Ahiru, who still seemed surprised that she had accomplished such a feat. "It seems you haven't lost all of your abilities as a duck." He gave her a calm smile.

"I don't know...it felt like it was second nature at times though." She said, as if the concept was abstract.

"Well you had done it once on your own as Princess Tutu." He admitted to her though he'd had a similar feeling.

"But that was Princess Tutu! I don't even know how I did half the things that she did!"

"It seems he was impressed either way. You're in now so you don't have to worry." Fakir said, as her concern disappeared from her face.

"Oh thank you Fakir!" She said as she hugged him. He was surprised by her sudden affectionate hug, but then sighed as he felt happy for her.

"We're going to have more pas-de-deux to practice it seems. I wonder why he holds them important?" Fakir asked as she let go.

"And we'll have the same partner the whole time?" Ahiru asked.

"He just recommended we stay together." Fakir admitted.

"But I don't know anyone else here that well anymore!" Ahiru persisted.

He smiled a bit, as she got so worried so easily. "I'm not going to ditch you as a partner. Duck or not I'll keep my promise."

"Fakir...do you know how I turned into a human?" Ahiru fiddled with her fingers.

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know...I just thought that maybe, since you are like Drosselmyer maybe you knew why I-"

"Because I can write like him? How do you know if I got my powers back?" He asked.

"Well...I was just..."

Fakir sighed. "Did you look at my note-book?"

"I happened to see a page of it yes...but only on accident. I meant to look at the feather that's all." Ahiru admitted.

Fakir looked away. He felt kind of awkward knowing she'd seen his sentence...knowing that he'd wanted to have her back to normal too. "I don't know if it was me. I don't know if its because you have a part in this new story...if they're is a new story...or if something is going on. I just wanted you to be happy...you're supposed to be a duck but you weren't happy as a duck."

"I just missed being a human...having friends...dancing...feeling..." Ahiru said looking up at him with her blue eyes.

"I know. It seems the things that we tried not to be, the character's we thought we'd left in the last story have become us once again...not our true form outside these stories." Fakir admitted.

Ahiru remembered how they'd both realized that her being a duck, and him being normal and un-sheltered would be okay...and yet now she was human and he may be a story-teller again, taking roles of some unknown story that had befallen them.

"We should get back to the town. The sun will set soon." Fakir said looking out the window to the lowering sun.

Ahiru nodded and went back to her change room. She took out her hair, and decided to leave it down again. Her uniform went back on and she walked out. She leaned against the door and waited for Fakir. She then felt a breeze, as the door opened and she saw a shadow of a bird cross over the ground above the school. When she looked up she saw nothing...she wondered...a large bird? Could it have been a swan? Or was it a vulture?

"Ahiru?"

She turned around to see Fakir.

"Oh I was just waiting for you!" She shifted back and forward on her feet.

"Then lets go." He said as he walked beside her.

"So I think you should get the bed tonight!" Ahiru said.

"Why?" Fakir asked.

"It's your bed! That's not my house! I couldn't make Fakir sleep on the chair again!"

"You'll only be staying there until monday." Fakir said. "I've fallen asleep in that chair before."

"Well it doesn't look comfortable!" Ahiru said. "I'm used to sleeping on the ground! I'll sleep on the floor."

"You're a human now not a duck Ahiru. Just take the bed, and I'll get a sleeping bag from my dad's shop. I think we have some stashed in there somewhere."

"He makes sleeping bags?"

"No, he uses one if he has a large project and he has to stay there overnight." Fakir explained.

"Oh. Well I don't like taking your bed..." Ahiru persisted.

"Don't worry about it. Just try not to wake me up tomorrow morning." Fakir looked at her, raising his eyebrow.

"Oh, no, I won't go near you in the morning. I'll just stay in the bed like a good du- I mean girl." Ahiru promised.

Fakir and Ahiru got to his small cabin-like house, after picking up a sleeping bag from his father's shop. Fakir hadn't liked the idea of returning to the Academy's rooms to stay after the closing of the story. Mytho wasn't around for a roommate, and he'd kept expecting to see Rue or even Ahiru in the halls. He went there for his classes, and then returned here. People thought he was a loner at times, and yet other's admired him. He was the only dancer of Mytho and Rue's caliber that remained at the school...now it seemed even Ahiru might challenge that this time.

"And I have my own pjs this time!" Ahiru said once in the house, as she went over to the bag of her clothes. She left into the other room to change. He sighed and put on his own t-shirt and casual pants. He stretched and put the fire on, putting a log in to make it stronger. Akiru came out in a pink tank-top, and purple pj pants with little ducks on them.

Fakir smiled as he saw the ducks on her pants. It was humorous that she picked such a pair after all that time as one. Ahiru yawned and walked closer to the fire to feel the heat.

"Isn't it ever lonely out here...separate from the school?" Ahiru asked.

"At times. But it's frustrating when nobody remembers any of the past...plus this way I'm closer to the lake and closer to-"

"Me?" Ahiru asked. "You didn't do it for me? Fakir, did you?"

"Well not entirely...but even as a Duck you were the only person who'd gone through more than I had. I can't say my father even recalls much of what happened." Fakir said.

"Well I'm here now!" Ahiru said. "So if you want to move back you can!"

Fakir just looked at the fire. "All the same I still think I'd stay. It feels more like home out here anyway."

Ahiru nodded and yawned again. "Well I'm going to go to bed! Are you sure you don't want the bed? I still feel bad about-"

"Just take it." Fakir said. "The fire's warm anyway. Don't worry about me...you should start worrying about yourself more."

She nodded and left to the bedroom. Fakir sighed. She did need to think more about herself...there was a reason Drosselmyer was letting her stay human, even if he'd influenced her through his own writing in his notebook. And there must be a way that Drosselmyer was writing again. After the events of today...his dance with Ahiru...and the feathers...something was happening. What? He just wasn't sure yet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4: Library Learning**

Fakir woke up early. He felt a kink in his neck but he ignored it. He walked over to the bed to see if Ahiru was still asleep. She was cuddled up in the blankets, still sleeping in a mess of red hair. He leaned on the doorway and sighed. How come Drosselmeyer had made Duck the one who had to sacrifice it all...why did he pick her out of anyone, or anything else? He wondered. Maybe it was time he visited the library. He got changed and left a note for Ahiru.

Ahiru woke up and stretched. She'd forgotten how good a bed felt after the two years in the forrest. She jumped out of bed and went into the other room expecting to see Fakir on the floor when she only saw a sleeping bag and the embers of a dead fire. She wondered why he would have left so early this morning? She looked around before she spotted a note taped on the door in his writing.

_Went to the Library to look for more about the feather and Drosselmeyer's abilities as a ghost writer. Meet me there if you'd like. ~ Fakir_

Ahiru now understood why he'd left so early. The library was always empty in the morning. He'd be able to look for clues without being questioned. She put on a yellow skirt and a crop white teeshirt and socks and prepared to find him there. If Ahiru was human, Ahiru could help.

Fakir had looked at the books on Drosselmyer. Nothing about them said anything about a sequel or another unfinished story? Was it something only he had known about? Or was it even a story? He then turned to the feather. Long and black. What bird was had this long of plumage? Raven's feather's weren't even so long and slender.

"What's that you have? It doesn't look like a book?"

Fakir turned to see Autor standing behind him.

"A feather I found on my doorstep. I wondered what bird it was from."

"I'm no expert on birds but I question why your hoping to find the answer in Drosselmyer books?"

"Just an interest." Fakir held back his true incentive. Autor also failed to remember much of the war against the Raven, let alone his blood line to Drosselmyer. "Did he ever not finish a book before he died?"

"It was rumored that he did. A story about a Prince and Princess..."

"And a duck." Fakir finished.

"I'm not certain there was a duck in it." Autor said, confused by the random add to the character list.

"Trust me there was." Fakir said. "Any other stories?"

"No but in his later years he showed interest in ballets, and the ballets of popular folklore stories that were found in his room."

"Ballets..." Fakir repeated. He knew that there was a reason why they'd been placed in a town with a Ballet Academy...but what did that have to do with the new story? "Any other secrets?"

"Why do you want to know so much?" Autor pushed up his glasses and gave him a suspicious stare.

"I read one of the books. The unfinished one. I was curious what other mysteries surrounded him." Fakir answered. Autor didn't need a part in this story this time...at least not in his opinion.

"Well there was a rumor that he had a notebook...a notebook which he wrote his most primary ideas down, but nobody knows where it went. It disappeared after his death." Autor said. "I've been searching for it for years but I haven't had any leads."

Fakir wondered why Autor hadn't told him this before in the previous story...unless this was Autor's role in this...story...or whatever thing Drosselmeyer had prepared, to tell him now about this book so he could look for it...or so Drosselmeyer could laugh at him trying.

"Fakir!" Ahiru called over walking over.

Autor cringed. "Don't you know this is a library, and you aren't supposed to yell in the-" Autor turned around and saw Ahiru and stopped mid-sentence.

"Hello Autor." Ahiru said instinctively.

"Do I ...know you?" Autor said looking at her with wide eyes. Who was this red-haired girl who look like she came out of a fairy tale?

Fakir noticed Autor. "I believe I may have mentioned you before Autor. She's Ahiru, and she's staying with me at my house for a bit."

"I just got accepted back into the school!" Ahiru said.

Autor noticed the way Fakir had mentioned that she was staying at his house as if to end his wonder. "Wait...back into at the school?"

"She's new here, but you get what she ment." Fakir said matter of fact-like.

"Do you have a partner for the new term? We got a message from the new Director to get one before the start of classes so we can practice our pas-de-deux." Autor said pushing up his glasses.

"Well I-" Ahiru started, about to explain that she'd kind of already been paired with Fakir.

"She's got a partner already." Fakir said.

"You do know I can speak for myself." Ahiru said looking at Fakir. "But I'm sorry, Fakir and I are partners."

"It's quite alright. I see what's going on here." Aruto said as he pushed up his glasses. He walked over closer to Fakir. "You know the new girl is going to attract attention from the rest of us, especially if she's a good dance partner...but I'll find another one elsewhere. You should learn not to make your feelings so obvious though...I can read you like a book."

Aruto smirked and walked off.

Fakir was taken off guard by Aruto's perceptive skills. Was Ahiru that alluring now that she was the new girl? He wondered if that'd change after class.

"So did you find anything?"

"Nothing on the feather yet. Aruto says Drosselmeyer had a notebook he used to write his original sketches and plans for his stories in. Maybe thats the book we're looking for." Fakir said and looked at Ahiru.

"Well how can we find it?" Ahiru asked.

"Not sure. I'm hoping Autor might know more." Fakir answered. "Otherwise we're just going to have to keep looking until we figure it out ourselves."

"Fakir...I was wondering...do you think your powers might be able to let me become Tutu again?" Ahiru sat down beside him.

"Why? Do you need to become Princess Tutu?" Fakir asked.

"Well if something happens I don't want to be useless." Ahiru said sadly.

"It's not that I don't want to Ahiru, but last time your ability came from Mytho's heart shard...if I even wrote a single sentence we might involve breaking Mytho's heart or causing another heart-shard to break...I'm not sure without a heart shard how you could become it. I'm not even sure my powers work...and I learned from last time it's best to have the facts straight." He looked at her. "It took a piece of someone's heart to turn you into her...Mytho's hope. I'd hate for him to give that up now that he's happy. Until we know more about what's going on..."

Ahiru sighed. He was right. What if they made things worse by interfering? She didn't want to be sad about it but she felt kind of useless otherwise.

"I know it's been hard Ahiru. I'm not sure how this is going to work out either. Tomorrow you start dancing at the school again, so maybe things will go back to normal for a bit." He leaned back in his chair and looked hard at the books on the table.

Ahiru looked at her hands. Fakir looked over and caught on. "Ahiru, lets just let this work out. Don't worry about this stuff so much. Mytho and Rue have their own story now...lets just make sure whatever is happening in this story...in this town doesn't cause any more terror...even if we're just our normal selves...or humans. You were strong before, plus we haven't even really been introduced to why He's letting magic back into the town. Let's just take this one step at a time." He smiled at her warmly and squeezed her hand.

"Thank you Fakir! I'll do my best to help you figure out what's going on here!" She said as she smiled back. "Maybe I'll take over the job of figuring out the bird feather then!"

He nodded in agreement, maybe this way it would be easier for him to figure out where Drosselmeyer's notebook was.

"Uhm Fakir?" Ahiru said quietly.

"Yea?" He said absentmindedly wondering where he could look next.

"Can I...uhm...Can I have my hand back?" She said meekly.

"Oh! Sorry." Fakir looked away with a bit of a blush. Why'd he leave his hand on hers? Its not like he meant to hold it...it was just reassurance.

"I'm going to look up bird books! I'll figure this out!" Ahiru went on obliviously.

Fakir sighed. Now that Ahiru was back it was harder for him. Why _did_ he want her so badly back as a human? Was it because - no...no...he needed to focus! He stuck his nose back in a book about Drosselmeyer as Ahiru went up and down the isles of books, confident in having some part in helping the new mysterious feather.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5: Bird of a Feather**

Ahiru was having a hard time looking through the books. Autor would be helpful at this time...even though Fakir had acted strange around him. Which was strange, especially since he'd been the one last time to help Fakir write last time against the Ravens. She sighed. She'd only spotted one or two that looked worthy and few of them looked like they had anything to do with black birds. She started to examine some closely when-

"Looking for something?"

Ahiru turned to see Director Kugamaii standing over an isle, holding a book of his own.

"Just a book on birds."

"You have an interest in birds?"

"Oh...not _really_." Ahiru said, secretly knowing she had more to do with birds than he knew. "Just Fakir found a bird's feather and wants to know what kind it belongs to!"

"Ah, and the feather is?"

"Long...soft...black...kind of slender..." She said thinking.

"Ah, I'm a bit of a bird expert myself. Quite graceful creatures, and yet some can be so...vicious...like a vulture or a raven." He said, pacing around as if he was looking for something. "There is a book which may do you well. You're looking for larger birds, mostly colorless...rare. If the feather is long and black, it won't match to any regular crow or raven...I'd say you're best bet would be to look in this book."

He handed her a thick encyclopedia of larger birds, all of which seemed rare or beautiful. She nodded. "Thank you Director-"

"Kugamaii. Sensei is fine as well Ahiru...does your name not itself mean duck?"

"I think so. Thank you again Sensei." Ahiru bowed slightly and walked off with her book back to Fakir.

"So the Fakir-boy is interested in the feather, and she's got a name of a duck. Quite a peculear pair...a piculuar pair that dances well together. I must keep an eye on them." He said as he walked away with his own book in his hand.

"I found a book on birds Fakir!"

"Does it tell us about the feather?"

"I'm not sure...but I'm pretty certain it will." She said as he looked at the book. _Encyclopedia of Rare and Beautiful Birds: From Black Beauties to Exotic Species._

"It seems like a fair try considering we know the bird isn't local."

"The director found it for me...he seems to know a bit about birds himself. Maybe he'll be permanent here?"

"That'd be a first." Fakir said. "Ever since the change back to a regular town nobody seems to like it here...or stay for that matter."

"Why? I like it here." Ahiru said.

"Who knows. We're kind of boxed in from the rest of the world Ahiru. Some of us like it here...people from the outside tend to find our small world strange." Fakir pointed out.

"It's peaceful here though, for the most part. Plus...I like the Academy...and even the magic the town has through Drosselmyer." Ahiru rested her chin in her hands. "Even if it's troublesome at times."

"...I think you're right. But I still think...if anythings going to harm this peace we've had...then maybe it is our place to stop Drosselmeyer's tragedies again."

"Then I'm going to keep looking for the mystery bird!" Ahiru said and looked back to the book.

Fakir smiled at her confidence and hard-working attitude. He continued to study Drosselmeyer's books, to see if he could find anything more about the alleged notebook.

Hours after hours passed as the two looked intently at their books. Soon Ahiru found the text's words to blend together. She yawned as her eyes began to droop.

Fakir hadn't had any luck. Most of his stories took ideas from ballets, old fairy tales and myths and twisted them in ways that either produced tragedy or a miraculous ending. Still he couldn't tell if any of them said anything hinting about where the notebook was. Even his focus was lacking.

"Ahiru do you think we should end it for tod-" Fakir looked over and noticed that Ahiru was sleeping on the book. He sighed and took her and placed her on his back,and bookmarked her book and took it. All of his had been useless as of yet, so he might as well help her look for the bird. He then carried her on his back back to his house. The sun was just setting so he figured it'd make good time to do a bit of looking himself.

He put her into the bed and wondered how someone could be so tired, that they wouldn't even batt an eye. Ahiru really was like a kid sometimes...but she'd grown up while she'd been a Duck. Maybe everything that happened with Mytho caused her to grow up...accepting that she'd be stuck as a duck forever, considering it was mature of her not to fight it or keep the shard in selfishness. She'd accepted that Mytho loved Rue...and seemed to depend on himself ever since...which he'd promised her he'd be there fore her anyway. To be truthful, he admired her strength, and never would have thought she'd be human again, let alone taking his bed for her own. He sighed. There still felt like there was a large piece of this puzzle missing.

He moved to his desk and opened the book on the birds and looked at them. So many exotic birds...so many species going extinct, when all they needed was a simple large black bird. He wondered if the Director actually gave them this book to help them, or if it was becoming more of a set-back. This book contained many species Fakir had never heard of. His own eyes began to droop. He looked at the pages and felt his sleep-deprivation from sleeping on the floor over come him as he let his face sit in his arms, and quickly dosed off.

A small breeze flew into the room through a cracked window and the pages turned, forward to a picture of a bird. A black bird. A long necked black bird, with a red-orange bill, and a sister to the white graceful version of itself. A black swan. Just like the same black swan that was flying over the town in the night sky before landing on the balcony window of a certain Director's room, and turned into a sleeping stone.

"Ah, my little creation's returned." He smiled. "Soon, you will have a form to live as. I now have a way to strike revenge, and take back what was mine." He looked over to a portrait on the wall.

"Years, long before the Raven ever took his reign over my territory, I was going to take the kingdom. But instead the white swan-girl was not protected by the prince she sought, but instead the Knight fought for her. The silly knight who killed my son, to protect a princess who loved a prince who would end up choosing another. My only son, my apprentice in my work of dark magic! I gave up all I had to imprision the one he protected in another form." He was now pacing in anger around the room as he turned to the bird.

"Now I'll make up for my lost time. The Raven's reign gave me enough time to grow stronger. I was the prologue to the Raven's story, and now I can finally have my own story fulfilled. After tomorrow my darling I will be one step closer to taking back what was mine, and finding the two I seek..."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 6: Swan Lake **

Fakir got up as the sun creeped into the window. He closed the books without even looking at them. He'd dreamt about birds all night...or more or less that every one of Drosselmeyer's stories had birds that replaced their human characters...which just reminded him of those creepy ravens. Either way today was their first class with the new director and he figured he'd better wake up Ahiru.

He went to the door of the bedroom and knocked on it. "Ahiru we-" He noticed that the door was open as his knocks had caused it to swing. He looked around and didn't see Ahiru before he heard some grunting...grunting...grunting?!

"Ahiru are you alrigh-" He ran over to the side of the bed, where he quickly diverted his eyes.

"What are you doing in here?!" Ahiru yelled as she scrambled to cover herself.

"What were you doing on the floor?"

"I fell over putting my tights on and I'm trying to get them on without ripping them now! What did you think-" Ahiru defended in her high-pitched voice on the floor.

"I'm sorry." Fakir's face reddened. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He left the room as he shut the door behind him distinctively with a small slam. He sighed. Why did he always get in these compramisable situations with Ahiru?

To be honest with himself he'd begun to realize back when Ahiru brought Mytho his heart piece in the cave, how brave she was...and how much he'd grown to admire her for it. He'd noticed how heartfelt she was by how how much she'd cared for him, even when he'd treated her like a child...especially when she thought he'd died fighting the ravens. And how much she'd cared for Mytho...and room enough to still care for Rue and give up her place beside Mytho. To be honesty he'd wondered what had happened in the past for Princess Tutu to fall so desperately for the Prince in the first place? Wait a minute... why...why was Ahiru putting on her leotard here? There were change rooms for that...

Fakir looked at the clock on the wall and he realized he must have slept in too. "We're going to be late!" He too put his dance attire on, and took his uniform and put it in his bag this time, just as Ahiru emerged and he took her hand as he ran off dragging her behind to get to class on time.

* * *

"Well I'm glad the new couple could make it." Kagamaii-sensei said as they walked in barely making it on time, just as the clock hit eight.

"Couple? See I knew that new girl was competition for Fakir's heat Pique-chan!" Lilie said with a large smile, as Pique sunk down in her seat.

"Once again I am your new Director Kagamaii, and this is the new comer Ahiru, she'll join us for the rest your years here at the academy. Now...I do hope most of you found a partner for the pas-de-deux we will be practicing within the class?"

After a bit of scrambling the students got into their pairs. "Good." The Director walked through the groups, as Ahiru noticed he never really wore a traditional leotard, but rather a loose button down and stretchy pants.

"Now, I have a certain...how shall we call it...fascination with the tragedy of the tale of Swan Lake...and I feel certain that it has two particular pas-de-deux as well as many complex solos apt for your age group. While the pas-de-deux demand a sort of trust and persuasion that only a couple that truly trusts each other could perform...and the solos demand a certain presence on the stage...we'll be studying most of the pieces from that ballet."

He turned to Fakir and Ahiru. "You two deemed to know the first half of the Prince and Swan Princess' duet quite well in audition...the complete pas-de-deux can run from five to seven minutes. I'd like you two to perform the first half to jog the other's memory of it..._if_ you can handle that?"

Fakir looked at Ahiru who looked even more nerve racked to perform in front of her class.

"Lets just do this so he won't pick on us again Ahiru." Fakir whispered in her ear. "Plus it'll be good for you to make a good impression on the others."

"But I'm not Princess Tutu how am I supposed to be able to do that twice." She said clenching her legs close to her chest, sitting on the floor with the others, as they waited. Fakir got up and looked down at her. She looked up and saw a hand in front of her face.

"I won't let you fall." He whispered as she took his hand as he helped her up. They went into the middle of the class as Director Kagamaii put on the music once more.

Ahiru let herself dance. She closed her eyes. She could do this. She had to. Mytho was happy now...now she had to help herself. _I wont let you fall._ She trusted Fakir as well.

This time, she trusted Fakir. No hesitance. No worries. She let herself fall into his arms, be guided by his strength, and let her worrisome thoughts about her peer's stares leave her mind. She remembered the few times they had danced before, how he'd help her come to terms with letting go of her want to stay human and accept her as a duck... how at ease she'd felt being around him. She let her leg botmon high above her head, and her arabasque flow into a dip, and her jete in the air fly like she was princess tutu.

When they stopped just as the Director abruptly ended the music. The class clapped. Ahiru felt her face redden. Fakir had too noticed her gracefulness since their dancing...different from the Ahiru who'd never been that sure of her abilities.

"Very good. Better than last time I'd say Ahiru. Fakir you too, but I really do need to feel you taking a role of a prince and princess. That goes for the rest of the class, if you are a Swan Princess you cannot dance like a the lesser, like...like...left-footed duckling, and if you are a Prince, you cannot dance like a peasant or a feeble Knight...we all know how fairy tales go, the Prince gets the Princess." Director Kagamaii announced.

Fakir looked over to Kagamaii at the sound of a Knight. He was a Knight pretending to be a Prince in this situation...or at least he had been a Knight...and Amu was a duck, not a swan.

"But this one sir, does not." Autor spoke up with his hand up. "The Swan Lake is actually a tragedy and only renditions of the storyline by other authors ever reveal a non-tragic ending."

"Ah, so we do have one in this class who know's their Swan Lake." Kugamaii looked over to Autor. "It is true...the Prince chooses another, and the Princess falls to her death in despair, him following. But I always liked to think there was more to this story than what the original author perceived it to be...if I knew my placement was here longer, I'd recommend we perform such a ballet. All the same, the second combination will be a snippet from the pas-de-deux of the Socerer and the Swan Princess, presented in few renditions of the ballet. Ahiru you seem to know well the roll of Odette?" Kugamaii presented his hand, and Ahiru hesitantly took it.

Ahiru wondered if she could pull off the role without Fakir. She hesitantly let Kugamaii lead her in the dance. She'd never done it and yet, his movement was so darting and vicious as if his roll of the Sorcerer engulfed him. Ahiru finished her last movement, when she stumbled a bit.

"You shouldn't let me scare you, for stumbling is a form of unsure weakness...all the same, for the next week you will practice the Prince and Princess pas-de-deux with your partners, and following...well following we shall decide if the Sorcerer and Princess' duet is well enough to follow practices." He then paced himself through the room as they practiced. His eyes always went back to Fakir and Ahiru...he'd see tonight if he was right in choosing those two...it was too much of a coincidence for him to ignore any longer.

"Don't worry Ahiru, you did just fine dancing with him." Fakir could see the conflict in her eyes. Ahiru nodded.

"You shouldn't worry so much about what other people think. They may not know it but, you've saved everyone in this town on your own. You dance just fine when your confident enough to depend on someone else, so just learn to be a little more dependent on yourself...be more sure of it." Fakir said as they danced. Ahiru nodded again, but this time with more meaning.

* * *

"Fakir," Ahiru said as they walked outside after class. "I think I'm going to practice on my own by the lake today...I think I understand what you were saying and..."

"That works out then, considering I'm going to continue to look for clues to the feather and notebook...I'd rather be ahead of Drosselmeyer this time." Fakir added.

"Good Job today in class new girl!"

"Fakir, you'd totally make a super cool prince!"

People passed by they giving compliments.

Fakir wondered why it had bugged him so much now that he was given the role of Prince... he'd never felt a prince...a Knight was more his thing.

"Well I'm going to go now, I'll meet you at the edge of the forrest after!" Ahiru ran off trying to avoid the fact that she'd actually hadn't stopped thinking about the dance with Fakir in front of the class, now that everyone was talking about it. It must be how Rue felt when she was the top of the class...before she left. She continued walking to the forrest as she put her shoes on and looked for an open spot to practice.

Fakir went back to the house. He really wondered if Ahiru...if she'd come back because of him. His writing...his own hope to have Ahiru back as a human so she wouldn't suffer...and so he could dance with her again. Even he could admit his own wants...his own feelings had influenced his decision...but where they stemmed from at times he wasn't sure. Fakir walked over to the desk. He looked at the books, and decided to open Ahiru's book on birds. He'd been sick of studying his deranged grandfather...and- What? He didn't remember putting the bird feather in the encyclopedia as a book mark last night... he opened the book to a page closer to the back of it. He looked at it.

**Sooty Owl **

_A larger owl that is known for its white-silver face, large eyes, and soot and black colored wings and bodice. Is seen as more common in Australia and like most Owls are night hunters, and have been attributed to mystery and magic. _

Fakir wondered if a Sooty Owl could be the bird...yet somehow it didn't seem as big. Still the picture of the Owl...its large silver eyes in particular of this one were somewhat piercing. He then noticed that the feather was covering another bird in the book.

**The Black Swan**

_A less common cousin of the white swan, has long black feathers and a red-orange bill. It is more rare and is very less common to even rural areas of the Australian region. It's black feathers give it an association with the supernatural prowess of an already beautiful bird. _

Fakir looked to the feather dimensions of the black swan and the feather he had. Fit. The color fit. The sheen fit. Fakir wondered why...why suddenly the whole world was now interested in Swans...and what this had to do with their problems to come...

But Fakir, wasn't the only one in close contact with a swan. Ahiru was practicing at the lake and hoped that if she tried enough, she could do the pas-de-deux on her own so that she wouldn't have to depend on Fakir all the time...thats when she saw it. A lone black swan sitting on the water, so peaceful, and yet...it seemed to be swimming closer to her...looking at her...she stopped her dancing in her tracks as she waited for the bird to approach...the only other bird she'd ever seen on the lake.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7: Black and White, Yin and Yang: The Dance of the Swan, and A Duck in Pain**

Ahiru began. She'd get her part right...she didn't want to be the little awkward duck anymore. She took her place in a small patch of bare ground by the water, hoping it would rather help break in her shoes, and breathed. As she rose her head she spotted a single black swan out on the lake. Ironic, she thought, as she still found that even the darker bird had a grace about it out on the water, probably more than she'd ever have.

She began her dance, the pas-de-deux on her own, struggling more than she'd hoped, or at least more than she would have if she was Princess Tutu. But still...she had to keep trying! She danced around as her feet began to cramp, a feeling that had seemed foreign as a duck, but now felt all too familiar. But she wouldn't complain. She couldn't. Fakir or Drosselmeyer let her become a human again, and she would not waist it.

Arabasque, turne, tondue, piroete...and she imagined the song playing in her head. And she noticed, in the corner of her eye, the black swan had come closer to her as if closing in on the water's edge. But she had to focus...she must. She continued, she stumbled, but she continued. She closed her eyes and imagined herself as Tutu. She imagined the music, and the moonlight on the pond. She imagined she was dancing for her prince. She felt stronger this way. She opened her eyes, and it was as if her image in her mind had become reality.

The Moon had set on the pond, and she felt as if she had been dancing like Tutu would. Thats when she continued, and slowed as she saw the black bird now standing adjacent to her as if she was watching Ahiru. She danced like it was an audience...well really it was a performance from one bird to another...Ahiru thought to herself. She danced for it, and watched questioningly as its wings opened, spread wide, and flew towards her. Her first reaction was to crouch, but her legs wouldn't let her stop dancing.

The black bird like a wind, brushed through her like a spirit, and suddenly things changed. Ahiru wasn't herself. She was Princess Tutu, and dancing mirror to her was a girl, who looked like her, but was in a black dress and tutu identical to her own. It was as if she had been possessed by Tutu, her body dancing, her mind aware of the twin, but not questioning its existence.

Around and around they spun. For every pointed toe, for every batmon, they mirrored each other. Soon the forrest was spinning, and as if it was a dream, the last thing she saw was her own face, staring back at her in a blank stare, before it all turned to darkness.

* * *

Fakir heard the door open. "Ahiru is that you?"

"Yes, it is."

"Good. I think I figured out what bird left the feather..." Fakir called over from the other room. She entered. Fakir looked over to her as she stared at him.

"...So do you want to know?" Fakir asked.

"Actually I think I know." She said. "Black swan?"

"Yea...how'd you figure it out?" Fakir said the page of the book still open.

"Just a hunch." She smiled with a knowing innocence at Fakir, as she sat down.

"Hey wasn't the bodysuit I bought you blue?" Fakir said eyeing her up and down. Something was off.

"I got another one." She said, wearing a deep green bodysuit, with frilly shoulders.

"With what money?" Fakir said.

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"That woman at the shop probably gave you one for free...or is expecting me to pay for it..." Fakir grumbled. "Well now that you're back I'm going to bed... goodnight." Fakir looked at her, as she smiled back and left to the other room.

She looked at the feather on the desk. She walked over to it and put it in her hand and smiled. Slowly the feather sunk into her skin, and she breathed a sigh of relief, and laid down on the bed, grinning. She would make him proud.

* * *

She looked around, as her eyes opened slowly. She was still at the lake...but it was morning? But how? She'd felt herself fall asleep after that strange dream-like trance she was in after she'd encountered that black swan...but how? Ahiru got stood up and noticed something strange...her hand wasn't a hand. It was a wing...but not the little yellow wing she'd normally seen on her hand. It was white. She held her breath.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no." She scurried over to the lake and looked at her reflection. She wasn't a duck anymore...or a human...she looked back only to recognize her blue round eyes, but now she was a white bird with a long neck...a swan.

Ahiru tried to speak but all she heard was a meek quack or honk. Whatever it was it wasn't normal. How? Wasn't she a human the last few days? Was it something to do with the black swan? She had to go find Fakir now. She quickly flew her way out of the forrest and spotted Fakir walking towards the Academy...but he was walking with someone...who?

Thats when she looked down and saw. A girl that looked like her, in a leotard, walking beside Fakir! Impostor! Just like the twin face she saw in the vision! Had it been a vision! She decided to find out for herself and landed infront of the two abruptly.

"Wow an actual swan." Fakir said suddenly surprised by the appearance of the creature. Strange...a black swan feather and now a white swan showing up...some of these things were not just coincidence anymore.

The swan honked at them.

"I'm not sure its safe." Ahira said looking challengingly at the swan. (_I'm calling the other Ahiru, Ahira for confusion purposes). _

Swan-Ahiru looked at her. The same face she'd seen last night...Impostor she cried again! But it only came out a honk. She'd force her away if she had too.

Fakir watched the bird fly closer to Ahira and start to look a little threatening. "Shoo!" He yelled as he warded it off with his hands, in front of Ahira.

Ahiru didn't like the way Fakir was acting so threatening so she gave up and flew off to the bushes. How could she change this? That wasn't her! Fakir needed to know! Was this the reason why she became human? So she could become a tool for another her to steal the only friend she had left? What was this? She'd find a way back to being human if she had to...one way or another...this duck may have become a swan...but nobody was about to become her other than herself.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Light and Dark, Day and Night, The Sinner and the Pure...Yin and Yang**

Fakir walked silently to class beside Ahira. A black swan feather...and a spastic white swan? What was with birds in this town? He wondered what exactly was going on...

They entered the class to see most others were practicing the pas-de-deux of the Prince and Swan. He started to wonder why it had taken Ahiru such a long time to practice on her own last night. He watched the Director walk through the class, his eyes lingering on the other dancers.

"Times up. Class is starting. Find your partners and we will see who took enough time to practice. Pas-de-deux you _have_ to depend on your partner...you _have_ to fill the role... If it is not natural...you will not complete such task." Director Kugamaii's silver eyes, piercing the crowd, narrow chin high, finally resting his eyes on Ahira. "Now, I shall watch." He looked away sharply.

"I'm sure you're practice will be worth it, I know you can impress him so you-" Fakir said as they prepared.

"I'm not worried." She said rather bluntly, in a way that threw Fakir off. So maybe Ahiru had gained a confidence from all the practice and praise from the Director? The music started and so did they.

The Director walked around. No two partner fit the part. No person seemed to have the same ability in this pas-de-deux as the couple Fakir and Ahiru did. He was right. His eyes drifted to see a change in the girl. She danced more objectively, with more strength and confidence. _She_ was not _she_. He ended the music rather abruptly.

"So I see our star couple is the only one once again to fulfill this task. However I must mention...Ahiru was it? Your style has changed...or maybe...maybe it was a more a change in _character?_" His smile seemed sly but satisfied as he passed the two. "Next class... I want to see the Prince and Odile's paux-de-deus. However...please work on the other as well...as third year students I should expect that the two should be well known by the end of this year...your abilities should excel my expectations...all I ask is that you perform what I ask of you." His eyes locked with Ahira, and she looked back at him with an obedient confidence. "You may practice longer here for the evening, but I suggest you take it upon your self to even the scales."

Fakir wondered why he'd once again, taken a liking to Ahriu's style. Ahiru had seemed different since last night.

"Wow, Ahiru you were so good!" Lillie doted with some of the other dancers.

"I know. Thanks." Ahira smiled confidently. Fakir, again was taken back by her change...normally Ahiru would have become speechless to their words, or gratefully appreciated them...was she changing or was it just a phase?

"With that cocky attitude you would be better off playing Odile." Pique muttered just loud enough to reach the group standing around her. Ahira looked at Pique with a small confident smirk.

"You okay Ahiru?" Fakir said, as she turned to look at him, now with an innocent smile. Pique and Lillie had been her best friends...this distance she was keeping wasn't something she wanted right?

"Perfectly fine." She gleamed and left with him.

* * *

Ahiru had been pacing...or rather waddling around back and forth at the lake. She needed to change back now! But no matter how many times she entered the water she couldn't! She couldn't, she couldn't, she couldn't! She couldn't be stuck like this? Not after she'd just switched back?

The sun was going down slowly...Fakir should be back from class soon! Maybe she could get him to-

"Being a bird sucks doesn't it?"

She turned to see herself, as a human smiling back at her. "When you finally figure out what's going on, it will be too late for Fakir. I will perform my master's orders and then I will get my wish. To be human forever. I was made to become you're dark side, and soon I will become you."

Ahiru-swan looked at her angry, and honked at her in the same anger.

"Why? I was made, I was given a chance to help my master fulfil his wishes, for my own chance to be human! What did the master tell me to say..." The fake, Ahira, took a breath and recited what Ahiru wasn't sure was a poem or a curse, as she paced slowly around her, with a dark grin.

"_You can have the night, and I can have the day, but your Knight in shining armor wont win either way! You can't say 'swan', otherwise you'll turn back! Spill the secret we share and all you'll do is quack! Our pas-de-deux takes two, under the light of the moon you will become yourself, but under the morning sun you will sing a different tune. Should you fail to reach the moon on the water, more or less ... you'll be a goner." _She continued to smile, snidely.

"_And when the time comes, when the magic is at its peak, when the master takes his vengeance, will the Knight begin to leak...A crimson river, the blood that was lost will be taken back, at true loves cost, I will become you, and you will become me, and the knight will give back the son, and the debts will have paid their fee."_

Ahiru only understood parts of it, but she expected it had none the less to do with Drosselmyer's story...and the swan..or at least seemed to play a key role. She looked as the sky was dark now and the moon began to rise, less full than the night before.

Still as the light of the moon hit the lake, she saw the doppelgänger begin to dance the same Swan Lake pas-de-deux she'd danced last night, and soon enough her own body mimicked it...like as if it she couldn't help it and either the moonlight or her twin controlled her. And again they danced on the water, soon enough she opened her eyes and found herself on the grass near the water, in her blue bodysuit, staring at a black swan on the lake, who flew off into the dark sky. She wondered what damage the evil thing had done...its master had some dark power and a knight in the story was mentioned...could the night be Fakir?! She rushed back to the cottage house Fakir lived in, and saw him sitting at the fireplace.

"Practicing again?"

"...something like that..." Ahiru mumbled. She didn't feel like trying to say the word swan in front of Fakir should she turn back...plus he hadn't been to welcoming to her earlier. He knew her as a duck not a swan. Plus she'd be stuck one until the next moon...

"Well I asked the woman at the shop where you got that other body suit you wore today...she said not her shop. So i guess I don't really owe her anything...is something going on Ahiru?" Fakir looked over his shoulder to her.

She bit her lip. It was so hard. All she had were a few precious hours between nightfall and morning to help Fakir realize what was going on...and it seemed like her lips had to stay rather sealed for now. "No...not really."

"You know. I think the Director really seems to like you for the part of Odette...but do you think you can do Odile tomorrow? You seemed to be more confident now with your practicing by the lake?" Fakir walked over to his desk and took a short glance at his notepad before looking over to Ahiru.

"I'm not at all confident actually. I'm not nearly as good on my own by the lake..." Ahiru admitted. She'd never had much ease doing the pas-de-deux on her own by the lake, but Fakir really didn't need the extra practice...and her evil twin wasn't a partner. She felt so much tension and frustration. In a few hours she'd be back to being a swan and she almost had no clue about what the Black Swan had been talking about. She sighed and sat on the bed. She hadn't even seen what her other self had danced like...how was she even supposed to get a her teacher to like her when _her _wasn't _her. _She could be ruining her friendships...she could be hurting Fakir! What did she say about a knight and a-

"Ahiru?" Fakir walked closer interrupting her thoughts. His face had that cold, tough appeal at times, but since their friendship, she'd seen a concern for her through it all...sometimes more obvious than others.

He noticed her deep thoughts. Her troubled look. Ahiru was always more...bubbly? On the other hand her actions...her confidence today didn't seem like her. The difference between now and then... it was almost like the Ahiru at ballet practice and the Ahiru now where two different people... yin and yang almost. She was probably just struggling. "You are way too troubled about this dance part. He's not actually having us perform the ballet...its just practice you know. You aren't Odette...and you don't have to become Odile tomorrow either."

Ahiru swallowed hard. As if he knew how damn wrong he was...she felt like Odette...and she was going to be replaced by some god awful dark twin. Still...even if she did say swan in front of him... she felt like she'd just quicken the dark fate for her and possibly Fakir...if she could turn into Princess Tutu again maybe she could change that but...

"Here if you're that worried..." Fakir took her silence as a yes. He'd started to wonder if this story was ever going to take flight or if this whole Black Swan Feather was some kind of hoax. He walked over to her and took her hand and guided her, wide eyed, to the front of the cabin, only lit by moonlight and a single street light. He then guided her in the starting position for the Odile dance. "We'll practice together."

She nodded. Odile's dance was more hard, less soft...it was still ballet, but the dancer had to have a certain deviousness about themselves in order to play the part, considering the role. She didn't really feel comfortable in that kind of role. She let him guide her, but it didn't feel natural like it had before.

He noticed she didn't seem nearly as confident. He wondered where the Director found all the insight he'd had so far on her.

"Stop." Ahiru said suddenly. He jolted out of his thoughts and stopped dancing and looked to her.

"Can...we...can we just practice the Odette part..." She muttered softly.

"We're likely to practice it again...so I don't see why not." He took his position and she took hers. They began and Fakir noticed something different. She wasn't nearly exerting as much confidence, but more a humble gracefulness about her this time. Ahiru was like night and day today.

She let this dance become more comfortable. Not the dance she did with her twin that was forceful and self-reliant, as they both mirrored this pas-de-deux to each other without a partner...but now with a partner...with Fakir...she felt at ease.

Fakir noticed it too...he'd had this feeling when they'd auditioned...or rather Ahiru had auditioned to join the Academy again... an ease...but maybe even a sense of de ja vu ... almost as if...Ahiru was Princess Tutu...again...or was it before-

They both stopped at the same point, at the same confused point of de-ja-vu dancing, Ahiru's face close to his, as they both inwardly wondered what the hell was going on in Drosselmyer's little town of stories.

* * *

"So even when you play your games in the day, the Knight and the White Swan find themselves together under the moonlight... it would be a pity if they remembered too soon..." Director Kugamaii said as he stood from the balcony of his office which overlooked most of the grounds.

He turned to the Black Swan which sat on his balcony. "My pet...you really must bring this love to an end...it hurts me to see the Knight in such happiness in this life, when he really deserves nothing of the sorts after what he did. So what I wanted to take over the Prince's Kingdom? Instead the defending Knight intervenes and when I show him the truth to his one-sided-love, he strikes my own for showing him the truth..." The director's eyes winced away recalling his own pain.

"And now, now that I am strong enough, now that I have my magic...and the creation of you, my dear sinful twin, I can tell you your Master Kuro is back. You will do the damage, you will draw him out, and with sacrifice will come rebirth..."

The black swan hit his shoulder rather abrubptly.

"Yes, and you will get to become human...what better way is revenge taken than to make him suffer as he has made me by taking what he has, and then..." The Director looked slyly to the black bird and smiled evilly. "Then all will be right again...and maybe now that that retched Raven has done his damage... I will take over the Kingdom...but here first. Here ... is a perfect place to start." He grinned out into the dark moonlit sky and disappeared into his dark chambers.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Practice Makes Perfect, But Practice isn't Perfect**

Ahiru wondered why she had stopped herself...why they'd both stopped dancing. What about Fakir suddenly was familiar...more familiar than Mytho had ever been to her. She looked down and twiddled her fingers a bit, feeling a small blush. Maybe there was more to this story...the Black Swan sure seemed to lead her to think so...

Fakir looked at her. He wasn't put off exactly by this feeling. He cared for Ahiru...he'd guessed so since he'd written that sentence in his notebook and she'd appeared human in the forrest...but something was changing. Ahiru was...different at times. And he wasn't sure why...but something about her drew her in...even more so then before, but today...at times she almost repelled him. The Ahiru today seemed almost like Rue when she was the Raven Princess...confident...overly confident and rather impersonal to others. Now, she was softer, meeker and...like the old Ahiru he remembered. Tomorrow was a practice class...maybe then they could work out the pas-de-deux so it always felt more like...this.

"I'm going to go to bed now." Fakir said. "Tomorrow we'll work on it some more...don't stress so much Ahiru."

She nodded and watched him go back inside. Could she even sleep here? Would she not turn into a swan again when the sun rose? She had to do something about this...she just had too.

* * *

Ahiru woke up as the sun hit her pillow, recalling a strange dream she had had. She was alone on a lake looking at a Prince, she couldn't see the Prince's face...but knew she was looking at a Prince. She was also Princess Tutu...and danced between the trees, looking at the Prince from afar. The Prince seemed to be amused with another...another girl who also seemed familiar but she could not place. She felt her heart drop, almost as if she'd hoped for herself to be the Princes' muse...when she'd felt another's eyes on her - and thats when she woke up.

It was a long dream...it all had to be...yesterday could not have been real...the swan...the dance on the lake...her black swan twin...it just had to be.

She yawned and tried to rub her eyes. She then looked at her hands in slight disbelief. White feathers. She looked at her reflection on the window sill. A swan. A blue eyed swan with a small white feather that stuck up on her head like she'd once had as a duck. She needed to leave now...Fakir would wake and wonder what could have caused a swan to sleep in Ahiru's bed. She reluctantly opened the window and flew out, just in time to see the sunlight hit the black swan's wings, as she became Ahira and entered the cabin as if she'd never left.

She had to do something about this.

Maybe she would say Swan in front of Fakir.

He'd have to believe her if she turned into a swan in front of his eyes.

He'd just have to.

* * *

"You know...I'm really not in any mood to practice more." Fakir said as he left the room after class.

"Why?" Ahira asked.

"Its...just...it's not like last night. You're trying too hard or something... and your not dancing like you did before. How did you magically become perfect for the Odile part? Last night you could barely perform such a dark role and..."

"But Master- I mean the Director likes it..." Ahira said, trying to become more meek. She was made to become her victim's evil twin or dark half. Being like Ahiru wasn't easy...plus Master made it clear he didn't want them to recall their past...or not at least too soon.

"Fine. But...I think you need to dance how you like. I'm sorry but it just wasn't the same." Fakir wondered why the hell it bugged him so much. He shouldn't be this angry but it didn't fit. "I'm going to the library. Just leave me there...I need some time to...think. Sorry." He always hated cutting Ahiru off but this Director-pleasing stuff was affecting her...or something...and not in a good way.

He walked off and left Ahira standing in the middle of the courtyard. Ahiru was watching as a swan...Fakir was mad at her...and now she barely knew why. She just had to make sure she wouldn't do any damage if she said 'Swan' to him and revealed the secret. She couldn't afford messing Fakir up in this.

She watched Ahira walk back towards the forrest and followed her. What else was her evil doppelgänger up to? She landed in the forrest and noticed she'd lost sight of her.

"Following me again? You know the more you meddle the more you're going to make Master angry."

Ahiru turned to see Ahira staring at her, hand on her hip.

Ahiru honked at her and to her surprise she seemed to understand what she was saying. She continued to yell in frustration. Ahira was making Fakir dislike her and she didn't like it. "I'm going to show Fakir! I'm going to say 'Swan' and turn right in front of him! I don't care."

"You should care. Believe me it would have been in your best interest to just keep that to yourself...but on the other hand...if you want to speed up your fate...if you want to put Fakir on the line...go right ahead." Ahira then disappeared into the darkness leaving Ahiru to her own thoughts. Ahira would tell Master Kuro about this...he wouldn't want Fakir knowing...not yet.

* * *

Fakir sat in the library. Ahiru wasn't herself once again...or she was...but whatever was making her change he wasnt sure he could stand it. What he did need to figure out was the reason the he couldn't push the idea that this black swan feather didn't mean anything. Plus...last night he'd found a letter shoved in the door right around the time Ahiru left, that he'd kept to himself. Prince Mytho wrote to him...and their kingdom apparently was seeing many more swans about their skies. He'd still hadn't written off that white swan's honking at Ahiru the day before as nothing. Swans...everything about swans.

"You know, I thought I was a book worm...but I've seen you at the library quite a bit."

Fakir turned to see Autor. He really felt weird knowing Autor had helped him so much with Drosselmeyer before and had no recollection. Maybe he would know more about that notebook...

"Just a break from dance practice."

"That new Directors kind of hard eh? Though he seems to favour you and Ahiru." Autor assumed. "He's got quite a thing for that Swan Lake ballet."

Fakir nodded. He did...swans...once again. Maybe his only answers really lied with the puppet master himself. "Did you say you knew where that notebook was that Drosselmeyer kept?"

"Still hung up on him? I actually know quite a few things about Drosselmeyer myself...on that topic though that...I can only guess a few spots..." Autor adjusted his glasses.

"His family history was a bit entangled in mine...if you want to put it that way." Fakir said, not wanting to reveal his own lineage just yet. "Do you know where they could be?"

"Entangled huh? Well his house was located not far from your own cabin and your father's shop...closer to the edge of the forrest. Most of his books however weren't kept...his stories were re-written by others and adapted because of his rumored powers of being able to turn story into reality." Autor said.

"So what happened to all of his books?"

"Well his notebook was always seen with Drosselmeyer...and his other stories were burned in the middle of the town...not one ash left apparently because of the superstitions of it all...but it was said he was buried at what was considered his favorite place to write...besides his writing desk."

"Where?" Fakir had no clue Drosselmeyer had another place to write.

"Well it was only a pond back then according to the maps, so he was buried beside it, even though people swore they'd never see the day he'd truly die. Now...I believe...or at least have noticed most of his stories actually incorporated a lake into their plot..."

"You're saying he was buried...at the lake?"

"I'm assuming...more under the lake by now. But the townspeople first torched his stories and bombarded his house while he was at the pond finding inspiration for a new story. Why? You want to go digging up some remains?" Autor looked at him rather suspiciously, tilting his head up.

"No...no...just trying to figure out what happened. Curiousity..."

"You know what they say though... 'curiosity killed the cat'." Autor said as he walked away and shrugged rather dismissively.

Fakir wondered if that was just some coincidental warning Autor had given him or Drosselmeyer was actually warning him to stay away from his bones...either way...he'd have to check and see if the notebook was really with Drosselmeyer when his hands were chopped off and he was buried. He could imagine it almost... Drosselmeyer running from the mad crowd, his own house already invaded...his only possession a small book in his coat, that Fakir hoped to find years later, un-damaged at the bottom of a pond that might now be the same lake he'd found Ahiru at...that ran who know how deep? However tonight...tonight he might just have to go for a swim...

* * *

Director Kugamaii heard a knock at his door and began to wonder how competent his creation of the dark swan had been...doppelgängers where such tricky things. However now that he'd done enough homework to find away to get his boy back...he'd have to trust this bird would want to be human enough to complete her tasks.

"Come in."

He wasn't surprised to see Ahira standing at the door. "Master, we may have a dilemma."

"Even as a human you cannot fix these things for yourself? What? Has the Knight fallen for the dark side of his Princess?" Kuro speculated.

"No, he is indeed repelled and put astray by it, like you had predicted, but the Swan herself...she is more than helpless...she plans on revealing herself by saying the word 'Swan' in front of Fakir tonight."

"Ah, so the little Princess in this world has become more gutsy than the last time we'd seen the infatuated ballerina. All the same, if I really were to worry about her revealing our plan to soon to the Knight then I guess there would be a need for another spell...she is really quite troublesome isn't she..."

"I make a much better Ahiru." The dark twin pouted.

"And that we will see..." Kuro said, challenging her to do her job right. "On the other hand leave it to me, the word 'swan' might be a word we might need to take out of her vocabulary..." Kuro looked at his fist as a red swirl glowed around his hand.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: In Too Deep**

Fakir looked at the lake. The sun was barely up in the sky. He'd have at least an hour of light before the sun went completely down and the moon went up. He looked at it. According to Autor, his original house was burnt down...but Fakir had always found it strange how close his cabin was to the original spot. So...his great-great-great-grandfathers bones, who was probably somehow controlling this secondary plot they were becoming entrapped in, were likely at the bottom of this lake...with a notebook he'd hoped to find...if he was lucky enough.

He looked at it. Dark, blue...mystical. If the house was on the left...chances are the body would be towards the edge of the lake. He took a deep breath, took off his jacket and jumped in.

He felt the cool water around him, and to his surprise found the water quite clear. The bottom was more than 8 feet down easily, so he knew he'd have to take at least two trips. Maybe Ahiru would have been more fit for this job with likely better swimming abilities then him.

He held his breathe before getting about half way down, and started to let his breath out. Maybe he would see something. He landed at the bottom, and noticed a patch that was uneven...as if years of water had revealed a disturbed area underneath...it couldn't be that easy could it? He tried to move some of the dirt out of the way...after all these years maybe the sand had eroded down in the water and-

A bone. Fakir felt his breathe escape him, with surprise and with a frantic swim moved to the top of the water. He escaped with a huge gulp of air and treaded water. Something made the whole ordeal more...freaky...seeing the remains and a real skeleton bone.

Ahiru, who was still a swan, was inwardly debating whether she should tell him...or rather show him the curse. What would he react like? She only had about an hour or so of day before the sun completely set...and the moon would rise and she'd have to have her decision set. Her twin made it sound like she was only doing damage by showing him...but if he was aware couldn't he help her? He'd know it wasn't her acting strange in the day! That the girl he fought with today wasn't her! She paced around the lake when she saw a large splash as something emerged from the water...

Fakir! Fakir was swimming in the lake? But how? Why? What was he doing?! She'd rarely ever gone to the bottom...it was at least eight feet deep! She snuck behind a bush, not wanting to scare him, knowing the last time he saw her, she'd been honking at her fake-self and he'd shooed her away.

Fakir took a deep breath. Could it have been Drosselmeyer's bones? He'd never seen a real skeleton before, only in books, but he'd have to see if it was there. He took out the spade he'd brought and took a deep breathe before returning down again.

Ahiru waddled to the edge of the lake and stuck her head under the water to see if she could see what he was doing. He was deep, and digging for something...but what? She saw him rise again.

Fakir had uncovered a bit more, enough to know that some of the cloth of his clothing was still intact...meaning...maybe if he was lucky enough the notebook would be legible. Maybe Autor knew something about restoration. He had to try...one more go.

Fakir swam to the bottom and he'd had most of an arm and leg uncovered. Remnants of his attire were deteriorating, holy and dirty. He pushed more of the sandy dirt away, as the chest and face was revealed. Likely killed in the same clothes he'd seen him with during last time they'd encountered each other during Ahiru's fight with the Raven. He held his breath for just enough time to slip his hand in the inner pocket of the his jacket...of which could be barely called a jacket at this point. Fakir's fingers touched what seemed to be a hard leather encasing...a closed buttoned covering...a case... which likely held a book. He took it out of the skeletal remains, surprised by his own luck, when the book, as he put it in his own pocket, seemed to cause a jolt...a hard ripple through the waters that knocked his breath out of him,as if the book had awakened something or had disturbed the waters.

Ahiru felt the vibration in the water, but couldn't see exactly what Fakir had been doing. She lifted her head from the water waiting for him to swim up...he was coming up right? Something didn't happen to him? She waited to see the splash of him emerging...but nothing. She frantically dipped her head underwater, and saw what looked like an unconscious Fakir.

She jumped in and dove down until she reached him and pulled her neck under his arm and lifted him up out of the water, having him lean against her body and white silk feathers. She quickly swam to the side of the lake and tried to lift him onto the grass. She used her head to nudge him up. She looked with her wide blue eyes at him, scared. She couldn't do anything as a swan! She nudged his face a bit, trying to wake him up...

Fakir felt his vision blur as he opened his eyes and suddenly felt water come up from his lungs as he coughed and struggled for air. He pushed himself up and coughed up more water. He looked around...that pulse...was the notebook really that important that it caused some kind of disruption? And how did he get to the gra-

He suddenly saw the white swan who was staring at him intensely, and nudged his leg lightly. Her feathers wet. A track of duck prints alongside a wet trail he'd likely left on the grass...the same swan that went at Ahiru before? And now, she had saved him from drowning and got him to wake up? What was this swan? Who was this swan? It's big blue eyes seemed vaguely familiar...

"Fakir!"

Fakir turned to see Ahira running to him.

"Did that swan do this?"

"A swan couldn't cause me to drown...no. I wanted a break so I went into the water for a dip...just so happened I misjudged my swimming abilities." He said and got up. Ahiru didn't need to know about the book yet. Not until he was sure what he was dealing with...or she became entangled in this swan ordeal.

"Oh...well let me help you. That was the swan that honked at me the other day you know." Ahira took Fakir's shoulder.

"Mhm." Fakir's eyes followed the swan before they'd walked off together to the cabin.

Ahiru felt annoyed. She's saved Fakir! Did he even know? And now her evil twin was acting like the savior! She needed to talk to Fakir tonight she just had to !

Fakir went straight to his room and got changed. He couldn't afford getting a cold, not after he may have just found the book...already sealed in a leather case. He took it out and placed it on the window sill, hoping the evening breeze would dry the thing. It hopefully had at least some of the answers to the questions he'd come up with.

"I'm going back to the lake...I think I left my school bag there when I found you..." Ahira called out.

"Okay...when you get back...I need to talk to you." Fakir called from the other side of the door. Apparently Director Kugamaii wasn't too worried about the fact that Ahiru was still living with him...her dorm at the Academy never really did get mentioned since her audition...not that he cared...he kind of rather her be around with all this weird swan stuff up in the air.

Ahira walked purposefully back to the lake where her white swan victim was already at the lake waiting solemnly.

"Don't give me that look. You can tell him all about your little curse now...really I dare you." Ahira smirked all too knowingly and confidently as Ahiru swam over glaring as they began the dance that gave her back her humanity for the night's few precious hours.

* * *

Fakir didn't dare open the book until morning. He already dreaded the idea that the ink would be running down the pages...or maybe if he was really lucky, the paged would be just dust. He heard the door open.

"Ahiru?" He walked out, his hair still wet.

"Fakir, are you okay?" Ahiru asked.

"Yea... about going for a swim..." Fakir said.

"What were you looking for?" Ahiru asked.

"Wait...how did you know..." Fakir asked.

"Well...I saw you under the water...and you are a good swimmer so...I figured there was no way you'd just drown." Ahiru said, forgetting that he still didn't know she had been a swan before.

"Well...look I'm just looking into stuff about the black swan feather...and to be honest...you haven't noticed anything weird...like more swans showing up...there was a white one again on the lake when I-"

"I have." Ahiru said. "I noticed a black s-"

"A black what?" Fakir asked.

"A black sww-" Ahiru's eyes widdened. She couldn't say swan. Her lips wouldn't move. Her voice died...how? Did the black swan curse her further? Did she know she couldn't say the word the whole time? If she couldn't say Swan...then she couldn't turn!

"A black swan?" Fakir asked.

Ahiru nodded. At least Fakir wasn't clueless. "Yea...I'm not sure what it means but it doesn't seem good...but I don't think the white one is actually that bad."

Fakir nodded. "I agree...but look, about earlier today...you need to stop trying to please the Director so much...I mean it's great that you do so well...but it's just not you...and..." Fakir bit his lip. He didn't know exactly how to put it, but he cared to damn much for her to see her become someone other then the Ahiru he knew before. "Anyway, I've been looking into the swan feather thing and apparently Mytho and Rue have had an abundance of swans in their kingdom...the stories have been opened...and I have a feeling I'm on track to finding out why and what Drosselmeyer's plans are...but I need you to trust me."

Ahiru breathed out. So she couldn't turn into a swan in front of him unless he saw the change under the moonlight with the black swan...but, he was figuring out why exactly it was happening without even knowing it. It must have been linked to what he was looking for in the lake.

"Fakir, I don't feel like myself during the day...I can't say _exactly_, but trust me when I put it that if I do anything that's not like me...its because it isn't me...or something..." She admitted to her best ability rather meekly.

Fakir looked at her confused by her words. He kind of understood...considering nothing that had happened over the last few days had seemed like her...but she was her...wasn't she? He looked over to the book briefly, not long enough for Ahiru to spot it. He'd figure it out this time, and when he knew...he'd make sure Ahiru stayed a human this time...she deserved at least that much after all she did for Mytho and Rue's happy ending.

"Don't worry Ahiru. Whatever happens, we'll figure it out." Fakir said. "We've gone through worse..." He walked closer and gave her a small squeeze. He could tell...whatever was going on beyond the pressure for Ahiru to be the perfect partner...it was irking her.

"Fakir...why don't you sleep in the bed tonight...you almost drowned...you should have it." Ahiru said.

"You sure?" Fakir asked.

"Yea. Have a good night." Ahiru said as she walked out to the living room. She wasn't exactly relieved...but she felt a little better knowing that Fakir was on her side...hopefully.

* * *

"_So my dear great-great-great-grandchild has taken my dear notebook...well if he want's to truly awaken his past...then let the games begin. I would really hate for my only heir to die...but...a knight so often goes nobly by the sword...and the boy has yet to realize what his ducky truly is." Drosselmeyer grinned. "Oh my dear boy, the real riddle you need to answer is  
...what came first the Princess, the Duck or the Swan?"_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Close To the Truth, But Torn Away**

Fakir woke up the next morning early. Ahiru would still be sleeping...the sunlight had barely even begun to hit the horizon. He reached onto the window sill beside the bed, and gave a silent prayer in his head that the pages of this so called notebook would not be completely water logged.

He took the leather case, which he'd opened for the sake of letting it all dry, and took out the book. A black book, with silver embroidery...but nothing that indicated it was fancy nor expensive...rather small actually...barely over the size of his hand. The case had protected it quite well and the pages with some water stains, mainly only seeped in on the edges, while most of the middle was dry...he opened it to see many pages, with small paragraphs, ideas, and bullet point lists of brainstorming...but one page almost one third of the way in he'd titled as if he was writing a book...calligraphic writing...mostly dry and non-streaked or blotted by water. He looked with wonder at it and moved to his desk where he could see it better.

_The Ballet of the Swans: Preface_

_The Knight, the Princess and The Sorcerer's Vengeance_

Fakir couldn't believe it. A story made out as a preface...swans too...and new characters as well... he opened the page to what looked like the beginnings of a story.

_Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, lived a young Knight. The Knight was a bold and fearless knight who would give his life for his Prince...a Prince known for his caring heart. But with all happy stories come complications. For this Prince was sought out by many, and not just for good, but evil as well. The Knight protected the Prince every day, and every evening when he went out to the forrest to enjoy the musings of fresh air and rippling waters of a nearby lake, the Knight stood watch over his beloved Prince. _

_One day the Knight had a feeling that something was lurking about the forrest, and with rumors of a dark Sorcerer about the Kingdom, he left the Prince for a moment to boldly investigate such shadows of the forrest... whether it be beast, animal or Sorcerer. He found nothing but meek animals. Squirrels gathering, deer prancing, rabbits hopping. That was until he reached the lake, the peaceful sapphire blue lake of the forrest, where he saw a girl, a Princess rumored to live mostly in solitude...the Princess of the Lake. Few had seen such a lovely sight, and it was then the Knight realized that she was not just a Princess of the Lake, but a Princess of the Swans. She danced between the trees, of solitude and loneliness, but of happiness as well, as if she was a bird walking on water, arms as delicate as wings in the sky. A white gown of feathers, a small crown on her hair, and a gem as red as her beautiful heart adorned her, dancing here and there. _

_He became entranced with such a beautiful girl, but there were secrets about her he did not know. While he watched the magical creature dance, his Prince was being crept by the real foe. _

_The Sorcerer was a powerful one, one who wanted more of such power and wealth, and had a kingdom's greed. His apprentice son was a lesser one, but they traveled to perform such a deed; as to find a way to kill the Prince and take over the Kingdom, but there was one problem indeed...the Knight was also around every corner, and against him was a battle that could not have a winner be foreseen. Magic was useful only to deceive, and the Knight's sword was known to be quite invincible to most magic. So instead the Sorcerer watched in the shadows each day and night until, his loophole could be found... this was of course found as a lover's triangle, companioned with his dark will. _

_Now each day the Prince returned, each day to the fresh forrest air, and each day the Knight would catch glimpses of his lake-side muse, the girl with swan-like grace. But this girl did not dance for the Knight...no, she danced for the Prince. She'd seen the boy with a heart so full, and danced with a longing and bliss. Not once had she questioned her own solitude until she had seen such Prince. She wanted to be his Princess, she wanted to be his muse, and she left her lake farther and farther each day, each day closer to her fairytale kiss. Until one day she saw, that in fact she was not his muse...a girl with Raven colored hair, had taken most of his amusement. Could it be? As she danced, closer and closer, fair and dear, she was not but two trees away, and indeed she witnessed this fear. _

_The Sorcerer in the shadows, was watching from a far, and knew that love was not made for triangles, and triangles only lead to crossed stars. He found his precious loop hole, and there he would divide. His magic was weaker in this world, but he could not defy his own pride. If the Knight was broken he could then get to the Prince. Set the Knight against the Prince, for his beautiful Princess was a lie. Her heart belonged to a Prince for who could she could not confide. A broken heart, is a start, to a plan with devious evil and pain, to destroy the kingdom, with the power of truth, and a dark magic to make his name. _

_Now when the Sorcerer appeared to the Knight that fateful day, he_

Fakir looked at the book...pages were ripped out! He couldn't believe it. A Knight...A Prince...and Princess that danced like a Swan...too much of this sounded familiar...reminiscent of the characters both he and the others had played last time Drosselmeyer had awakened an unfinished story. Someone ripped them out...but who? The pages were freshly torn, and he never once saw the book escape from the window...but night time he could not keep eye on it. He looked at the sill, before he bit his lip in frustration.

A black swan feather sat on the ground, less than a foot from the sill.

* * *

Director Kugamaii sighed. So the boy really was out and about, trying to find out the truth. They're back story... no he knew as well as others, since reading on his maker, that Drosselmeyer had left their story unfinished. His preface had no epiloge...his lack of epilogue gave him, as the Sorcerer he was, but now twice as powerful to exact his revenge.

He stared at the ripped papers from the book, the papers to which his creation of Yin had given him. Yes she was a Yin. A magical creature made in the image of a black swan, who could become the dark side of the person she mimicked. She hoped to take Ahiru's body for her own, but should the plan change, he was willing to sacrifice both of his creature and the girl.

Sacrifice was always needed for dark magic.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Brainstorming before the storm **

Fakir skipped class today. He knew Ahiru wouldn't mind, considering what she'd said last night. Maybe having another partner would help her with her...well...her dance style changes...or what not. Either way, Drosselmeyer and Swans had been once again on his reading list for most of the day.

Actually the more that he thought about it...it was way too coincidental that their Director also seemed to like the "Swan Princess." Swans. What did Swans have to do with the story though? The girl was a Princess of a Lake in the story but...

"You look even more confused then yesterday."

Fakir looked up and saw Autor again.

"If I said Princess of the Lake what would you say?" Fakir asked.

"You serious? Do you even know the ballet we're dancing in class? Swan Lake? She was the Swan Princess of the Lake."

Fakir felt idiotic. How could he have missed this? What did that mean though in regards to the black feathers...or Drosselmeyer's story...that the girl on the lake that the Knight loved was the Swan Princess? No...it would have said so...plus Drosselmeyer wasn't re-writing a ballet...was he?

"Did the Swan Lake script have an illustration of what the Swan Princess was to wear?"

"Traditionally, its a white feathered tutu and hair piece...but there have been adaptations."

Fakir recalled the description in the book... A girl, graceful...a white dress...a tiara...and a red gem...

"Did it say anything about a red gem?"

"Are you sure your not confusing the story with another? It didn't. Pure white swan with feathers. Some times, even swan feathers were used."

A red gem...

"So...Ahiru didn't have a partner today at class. Why didn't you show? Your the directors _other_ favorite." Autor gave him a look, as he pushed up his glasses.

"She could dance with another partner...I've been a little...preoccupied."

"She refused to actually. You know I kind of liked her, until she got all teachers pet."

"Teachers pet?" Fakir repeated.

"Yea, even on her own today, she refused to dance with anyone else...the Director told her she'd have to practice on her own...and she did..the pas-de-deux on her own. She actually did it...all for that director. Nobody likes suck-ups."

Fakir took it all in. Ahiru could never do the pas-de-deux on her own...the only time she ever had done that was as -

"Princess Tutu!" Fakir said suddenly, eyes wide.

"Gazuntite?" Autor raised a brow.

Maybe it was Princess Tutu that was the Princess in the story...if that was true that meant he could have been the Knight and the Prince may have been Mytho...and the other muse...Rue?

...did that mean...he was written in this prologue to have fallen in love with Princess Tutu? But the Sorcerer who was he...

"Look I don't know what's going on with you, but can you tell that Ahiru girl to give us a chance to take the spot-light...she's really amazing but-"

"Ahiru's not that amazing though. Not the girl I know...and she only has a humble confidence..."

"Well the girl we all know...is clearly Ahiru...look I'm going to leave you to your books. I preferred your Drosselmeyer questions..." Autor left, before rolling his eyes.

Fakir _needed_ to find the pages missing of that story in the notepad...if the preface was written by Drosselmeyer and it didn't have an ending...it could have something to do with what was going on now...there must be something more about the Black Feathers...

"Fakir."

He looked up, about to leave, and saw Ahira. "Sorry I wasn't at practice today I had to look into something today..."

"What?" She asked. She scouted the pages on swans, books on Drosselmeyer and his stories, and noticed the notebook sticking out of his jacket breast pocket.

"I told you last night. I'd figure out what was going on..." Fakir said, wondering why she seemed so clueless. "Autor told me you did the pas-de-deux basically on your own today...I haven't seen you do that since you were Princess Tutu." Fakir challenged her.

"I guess maybe the new me is better adapting...who knows..." Ahira said. Fakir did seem annoyed about her inconsistencies. Good. If confrontation was around the corner, she'd be ready to perform the Sorcerer's plan. She left him to think. She left him, just to leave him questioning whether or not he actually could handle this _new _Ahiru.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Missing Pieces coming Together**

"He's learning is he?" Kuro stood stiffly at his balcony window. "Even if he does realize who the characters are, he can't learn what 'the Sorcerer' said to 'the knight' because we stole the pages." He turned to see the black bird sitting on the chair, her eyes watching his movement. She honked a small honk, clearly in an attempt to communicate to the silver haired man.

"Even so, you say he is beginning to become annoyed with the dark side of the little Duck then...then we are at least getting somewhere. By the time he does figure it out, I'll have all my power back, and you can give me the revenge I need to help complete my plan. Let her have these few nights...soon we'll both be satisfied my dear." He brushed the tips of his fingers down the neck of his Yin, his little black swan.

* * *

"Ahiru...did you see anything or anyone go in my room at all last night?" Fakir asked, clearly distracted.

Ahiru looked at him. Being a human was something she terribly missed on the daily. Dancing was something she missed daily. Fakir too.

"No, why Fakir?"

"Because something missing...look if I-" Fakir paused. "Wait...did you take something from my room last night?"

"What?" Ahiru looked wide eyed and confused. Why would he accuse her of stealing from him? Was that the impression her other self was making on him?

"Forget it. Look I found a notebook that might help me figure out what's going on with this swan thing but...its missing pages. On top of that, I found a black feather beside it." Fakir looked to her. "I need to find them. If you know or if you see anything..."

"I don't." Ahiru said sighing. "I'm sorry Fakir. I'm sorry I can't be anymore help." She felt her stomach waver. It killed that she couldn't show him her secret, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Fakir looked at her. How was this the same Ahiru that was boastful and confidently prancing around dance class? ...she was meek...and looked terribly sad for not being able to help him now..really that was the Ahiru he remembered.

"Ahiru...I found a prologue to the story. I think it was the prologue to the last story we were in. I have a hunch that originally Princess Tutu was a Princess of a Lake that was nearby Mytho's kingdom in the story. I don't know what that means exactly but I do know its linked to the swan and feather conundrum somehow. People keep saying they're seeing swan feathers landing around the town. Mytho sends letters saying even their kingdom has had an infestation of swans. Black swans." Fakir looked hard and thoughtful.

"Fakir..." Ahiru started. "I want to figure this out too. I...I want to help. I will find those note pages for you I promise. I'll make sure of it."

Fakir was taken by the fact that her confidence in finding them was strong, but also that she wanted to help so much. He'd really missed this about her. "Thank you."

She nodded and left to the other room.

But he also knew something was going on with Ahiru. Her blue eyes were troubled. Her actions varied day to day. But she was holding back. He was supposed to be the one she could trust...and yet now...he wasn't even sure he could trust her.

Ahiru was annoyed. She knew it was her black swan doppelgänger that stole the pages, but she also wasn't sure where they'd be hidden. Maybe if she looked tonight and found out where it came from before it met her on the lake she'd be able to look there tomorrow. She'd have to try.

She stayed awake. Before daybreak she left, like she'd planned. She made sure she didn't wake Fakir, and left for the forrest. If her black swan had to replace herself in her bed at Fakir's house, she must come from somewhere.

Ahiru sat in the shadows of the trees, the sun's farthest rays barely reaching over the horizon, when she saw a black bird fly off the balcony of a room at the academy. It flew closer to Fakir's house, and knew i was the Black Swan.

That was the room she'd investigate today.

If she was lucky...by tomorrow night...she could give Fakir the answers he needed.

Ahiru hated the fact that her arms were now wings. Sure they were bigger and yes she could fly more than her duck self ever could...but she really wanted to feel human permanently.

She looked into the window. Classes were going on. She scanned the room for Fakir when she saw him dancing with Pike. He didn't look happy about it either, or at least he seemed -

Ahiru gasped. Her twin self was dancing with Autor. Boastfully...proudly...not at all like how she'd danced in reality. But why? It was like her twin was trying to get Fakir to be annoyed with her...

She left quickly before she could give herself the chance to honk in anger again. That balcony was her only way to find out where her twin was coming from. It was about time she did something to fix her own problems. She swept upwards towards the higher rooms...did that mean that her doppelgänger was someone's pet if she saw it come from a room?

She looked around. There it was...the room. She landed on the balcony and she held her breath. Wasn't this the director's room?

Her eyes darted back and forward in the room. She looked at the balcony doors. Locked. But it was a latch.

She started to hit the doors with her beak, until she started to see the latch loosen.

"One more hit..." She hit it harder then she'd meant to and the latch unlocked and she flew into the room.

She looked around. It looked like the director's room! Did that mean he had something to do with it? Was she doing something to the director too?

Ahiru looked around to make sure the director wasn't there, even though she was confident he'd be teaching class.

Okay...so...note-pages. Fakir wanted ripped out notebook pages. Why did the black swan steal them...did she not want Fakir to know? Clearly the notebook was important. She couldn't let Fakir down!

She looked around before she saw the pages sitting on a desk, next to a book that made her question who the Director was...a copy of Swan Lake...but also a book that had strange illustrations and notes. Clearly this wasn't what Fakir wanted, but Ahiru felt a nervous inkling to hurry and leave, so she found what notes she could...rather scripted and a little water damaged, and left the room.

The Swan and the Director? What was she missing?

* * *

Fakir left class early. Maybe he was jealous. Maybe her mood changes and flipping personalities were getting to him. But dancing with Autor bugged him. Autor said he hadn't liked her new self and sucking up, but when she demonstrated with him instead of himself...Fakir knew that...or well he'd felt like it wasn't like Ahiru to pick another over him.

He didn't even care to ask her about if she'd heard anything about the notebook. Frankly he didn't want to be at the Library with Autor. He just wanted to clear his mind. He'd hoped Mytho didn't leave another letter either. He left and as he left, he spotted a white swan in the sky.

Damn. Swans.

He didn't wait around for Ahiru and went to his room. Sleep. Sleep is what he needed. He went to his room and stretched and opened the window. The weather had been clear and fresh. He needed air and sleep. He looked down onto the sill, and noticed pages...pages of the notebook?! But how- he looked around. Nobody was there. Ahiru hadn't returned yet had she? Had she beaten him here?

No. Nobody in the trees. Nothing either. He was about to close the window again, so he could sit and read the pages when he noticed the grass below the sill was holding strange evidence. Familiar evidence of who was there.

A white swan feather.

A black swan feather when the pages were stollen.

A white swan feather when they were found.

Something clearly was up.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Revelations and Realizations**

Fakir looked at the sheets. The sun would be setting soon. He only had a few more minutes of daylight.

Could these be the notebook sheets he was missing? A simple feather as his only explanation to how they got there...

He took them from the window sill. Here it was. The answers he was looking for...hopefully.

He read on.

_So when the Sorcerer appeared on that fateful day, he found the Knight, once again, looking for the Princess from afar, hoping to watch her dance by the lake._

_The Knight was surprised by the caped man's appearance, and immediately drew his sword on the man. The Sorcerer however smiled. He told the Knight that he meant no real harm, but wanted to aid the Knight, for he knew where his Princess was. _

_He pointed to the girl, a white figure-ette, in the trees. The knight looked and was surprised to see her own attention, her own watchful eyes eyeing something else in the forrest. _

"_That my boy, is the Prince. She dances for the Prince. You're love is a one sided lie. She is but a delicate Swan in your midst, only fit for a Prince. You could never really find love from her could you? She has spotted another, just as you have spotted she."_

_The Knight tore his vision from the scene. It was a lie. A Sorcerer's trick. His Prince was a fragile Prince. He knew not of the Princess of the Lake. He had been spending his time with a girl who'd taken a fancy to the prince. He took out his sword and looked at the mysterious man. _

_The Sorcerer took off his cloak and revealed his moonlit haired self, and played feeble leading leading the Knight slowly closer to the Princess and the truth in hopes of finding his weakness. He sneered, playing innocent to the Knight's accusations of trying to lie and deceive him. _

_The Knight grew mad however, and knew the Sorcerer's plansmust be to get close to the Prince! Or maybe even his Princess! So he took it upon himself to bring the first blow, suddenly and unexpected by both, fueled by the anger of the Sorcerer's plan for deception, lunging forward with his ever legendary sword when- _

_He saw the Princess. _

_Midway in his attack. _

_She is staring with doting eyes at the Prince. _

_Eyes he'd once stared at her with. _

_He felt his heart break._

_When he looked back to the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer was not injured. He was not destroyed by the Sword's blade. Instead the apprentice was standing where the Sorcerer was. The son of the Sorcerer, who had taken the blade for his father in his last minutes of lunging. _

_The Sorcerer became enraged. Dark clouds cover the sky, and he threatened to kill the Princess in for killing his son! The Knight once again takes out his sword, and blocks the Sorcerer's attacks, proving his sword can do much more than be used for fighting, but defeating dark magic. _

_If he could not have his Princess, he would protect his Prince at the least. His mind would not falter from his task, because of the pain in his chest. _

_The Sorcerer fells short, unaware that his plan had only enraged and strengthened the Knight with the power of a desperate man and a broken heart. The Sorcerer had no time to send more of his black magic at the Knight before he felt the pain of becoming sliced in the shoulder. He felt the pain. The Knight's swored was true. His powers draining with the blood of the injury. The Knight retracts his sword, and tells the Sorcerer to leave the Prince and Princess alone. _

_The Sorcerer looks up in anger. No the blow was not deadly, no the sorcerer may not have had all of his powers, and no he may not have expected the Knight to be so livid about his broken heart...but the Sorcerer could do this. _

_He promised to leave. But he also used the rest of his powers to curse the Princess. He also promised to return one day. To punish the Knight for his careless deed of killing his son, and to do it to the person he'd always love most. _

_Before the Knight could draw his sword, the Sorcerer chanted his last curse before disappearing into a smoke of darkness and as the curse rippled through the kingdom, with the Knight's heart, the legendary sword shattered._

_**Your triangle of love has caused you pain, **_

_**But the blood of my dead will cause you no gain, **_

_**You wished to watch your lover dance, **_

_**But you nor she will ever have your happy romance,**_

_**For I will return and the vengence I seek, **_

_**Will take my power to it's peek,**_

_**But until that day comes,**_

_**You will not rest, **_

_**And your graceful Princess will become, **_

_**A a clumsy Duck at best. **_

Fakir closed dropped the pages in shock. A Duck. The Princess turned into a DUCK?

Ahiru was a Duck... and she was Princess Tutu...then it meant a different thing but now...did that mean Ahiru was meant to be a human Princess, but was a duck because of a curse that was set up in this prologue?!

He grabbed the book in a quick rush, and looked to the spot that the pages were ripped out. There must be more...more...something that could-

And there it was. Written a page after...begging for a continuation that Drosselmeyer knew about and probably had them acting out as he read...

"_For every prologue there is an epilogue, waiting to be written..."_

He understood it now. A prologue for the story of Mytho and Rue. Mytho was the Prince. Rue was the girl who took his attention. Ahiru was Tutu and the Duck. The Knight...well it must have been him. He swallowed hard. This had more to do about him than he thought. The Sorcerer was...well he had no answer for that yet.

Autor had told him that Drosselmeyer based his writing on plays and ballets. He wondered if this Epilogue, and its abundance of swans had to do with Swan Lake or something. The Raven was the main story, but now...the Prince had a Princess that wasn't the Princess of the Lake. If the Sorcerer was back for vengeance...Tutu or Duck could be the target...

The swan feathers.

The ballet obsession.

The black and white swan.

Ahiru's night and day personality.

He turned to the script of Swan Lake he'd borrowed from the Library.

A dark twin who'd fooled the Prince. A black swan. A princess who was both a Swan and Princess.

He could admit at the least that Princess Tutu was like the Swan Princess in the sense her attire, her background on the lake and her ability to dance the Pas-de-deux to save Mytho that time was incredible. His ideas seemed far fetched though. He felt as if he didn't know enough about what was going on to really know.

But was Ahiru really Princess Tutu...Ahiru hadn't been herself lately, and the swan feathers seemed to show acts of evil and kindness. Black feather. White feather. Black Swan. White Swan. The White Swan had saved him. The Black feather was dark, magical and appeared when his notebook had been torn. Too coincidental.

He had to talk to Ahiru. The Ahiru that he'd danced with and talked to in the evenings seemed more herself anyway. He looked outside. It was night time now, and either he was crazy or Ahiru would be herself now that she was away from the pressures of dance studio or Director...and he at least new this much.

He had to tell her his theories.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Sweetest of Swans White as Snow, The Darkest of Evil is the Black Swan Foe**

Fakir looked around. Ahiru hadn't really been around since he'd seen the pages at sundown. Or at least he hadn't heard her come in from practice. She'd been Autor's partner but honestly he couldn't tell what it meant. She was almost distant with him today, like she wanted to spite him. But last night...she'd been perfectly happy trying to help him find the notebook pages...again. Black and White. Maybe this Black and white swan thing did have a bit of metaphorical similarity to Ahiru at this point.

He looked in the living room. Nothing. He looked by the fireplace. Nothing. He checked under the covers of his bed just incase she'd taken a nap or ... but nothing. He looked out the window to see if he could spot her coming home from the Academy but she wasn't. There was only so many places she could be and considering even Autor didn't seem imensely pleased with dancing with her, considering his realization of her behaviour in class, he doubted she was with him. Or Pike for that matter, who seemed rather smitten with the idea that she got to dance with him. To be honest it wasn't that he didn't ever want another partner...its just that those few times he got to dance with her really felt right. Or at least the pas-de-deux that he'd done the first few times with her. He was really her only friend at this point, and well she'd really only ever been his besides Mytho.

Maybe...well if his Knight self...which he realized never had gone away... A scars a scar, and he'd still had it. If his Knight self had feelings for Princess Tutu...maybe it wasn't his complete dedication to helping the Prince but his past feelings for Tutu that made him so eager to help her against the Raven. But now...until he could find out if the Sorcerer of this story was even present, he wouldn't know completely what the danger was that they were really in...

He felt a urgency in him to find Ahiru suddenly. Whether or not it was something more than friendship...there were too many variables in the air. The sky looked a lot darker tonight and hew knew there might only be one more place she might be.

Fakir left his cabin in a rush. Ahiru was nowhere...or at least not at the house. He left and began to move towards the lake. He looked around and saw shadows forming over the trees in the forrest. The darkness of the night was already covering the grounds. How could he ever find her in the darkness?

"Fakir?"

He turned to see Ahiru standing in front of him.

"Ahiru! I couldn't find you...where were you?"

"Nowhere really...just the lake for a bit." She looked at him. "You were looking for me?"

"Yea." He wondered how he should go about this. "Look, I have a theory. Actually three theories kind of...about what's going on."

"Tell me!" Ahiru said, she appeared curious.

"Well...one, I found Drosselmeyer's notebook...and its told me more or less that there was a prologue to the story that we didn't know about. Theres a good chance that your actually human...but were turned a duck. Theres also a good chance that a Sorcerer might be on the hunt for my head and yours."

Fakir watched her as she listened, staring intently at him. He'd skip over the love triangle part for now. "Two...well two, is that I'm pretty sure there are two swans around here. One, a black one who is relatively evil and stole pages from the notebook, and the second a white swan who saved me and gave back the pages."

Her face showed a slight bit more shock. He wondered if she was just speechless or he sounded crazy. "And three...I think this all has something to do with Swan Lake...maybe it's a coincidence but...can you tell me...is there something going on...I know...I mean I think...Ive noticed your change and-"

"There is." Ahiru said cutting him off from his struggling words. "I wanted to tell you but I didn't know how. I'm not really me all the time...Fakir I'm cursed."

He looked at her wide eyed. "Cursed?"

"I turn into a swan and then when the moon comes out I turn into myself until sunrise."

"Then who are you when -"

"It's more like Swan Lake than you'd think. To be honest, I think I'm remembering some of the past...I told you I wasn't myself but-" Ahiru walked closer to him, appearing troubled.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Fakir questioned.

"I couldn't." Ahiru said, taking a step closer, looking up at him. "But now that you know, I can tell you everything..."

"What's everything?" Fakir looked at her blue eyes.

"Look to the sky." Ahiru said.

He looked up. "What am I looking for?"

"What do you see?"

"Nothing...darkness...a few stars but..."

"Exactly."

Fakir thought for a moment about what that meant. Wait. No moon. If Ahiru changed into her self at night when the moon came out...but there was no moon tonight did that mean...

He looked down at Ahiru. Was this even Ahiru? Or was it-

She was now holding a black feather between her fingers. "Funny how things can look like one thing and be something else?" She flipped the feather and it turned into a dagger. "I guess you really don't know your Princess that well Knight...because you couldn't really tell the difference between the Odile and the Odette."

Ahira looked at him sharply and took a quick lunge forward, Fakir taken by surprise, as he saw a rather sharp looking blade coming straight for him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: The Blackest of Nights**

Fakir put his arm instinctively, preparing for the blow. Except the blow never came.

He heard the sound of the evil Ahiru step back with a small screech.

He opened his eyes to see her fallen back onto the ground. In her place was a white swan with a rough cut up her wing.

So _that _was Ahiru? He recognized her blue eyes as the big blue eyes that rescued him from Drosselmeyer's lake. And she was bleeding.

"Ahiru? Are you-" He walked closer to her. Not as a duck. A swan. I guess that made sense...in a way, ducks did become swans. But so many pieces to the puzzle were still missing.

She wondered if he really had figured it out. She hesitantly found Fakir's eyes. She wouldn't let Ahira sacrifice Fakir.

Fakir looked rather upset. He turned expecting to see Ahira back in action, but instead saw her laughing rather...insanely.

"You think you're going to stop me from performing my Master's orders? The Knight has to die for the Son to come alive! A sacrifice! You'll be the one stuck as a swan...I will not be a stupid bird, I will have your body!" She chimed out angrily as she stood up and began to lunge forward again.

Fakir took the statement seriously, and took Swan-Ahiru in his arms and nimbly dodged a second blow.

"The son...is that the Sorcerer's son...is that what who you need to bring back?"

"All I have to do is trade a life for a life and thats what the Master-"

"The Sorcerer is the Master isn't he? Who is he now? Who is he hiding as? And if he wanted the Kingdom so badly why is he targeting us and not Prince Mytho?"

"One question at a time young Knight."

Fakir heard the voice and swallowed hard. He knew that voice. It was making sense now.

"You." He turned to see the director smiling, his coat tails floating in the wind, his white open button shirt collar up, and his silver-moon-light hair dusting the front of his eyes. He stood in thin air above them, in an aura of black magic.

"Ah, no surprise? I was certain you hadn't figured me out yet? However I had you two pinned from the start. Drosselmeyer created us from the ballet Swan Lake, so you two dancing so well together made such sense."

"I'm not the Prince."

"In the main story, no. In this story...maybe a Knight is a Prince, or is willing to become one the Princess he falls for. And yet, she loved Prince Mytho so much...left you in the dust..." He smiled evilly, hoping to reawaken old wounds.

Ahiru was starting to follow along. She'd heard Fakir's words to Ahira...and now Kuro's words were linking well with them. She knew she'd loved Mytho...but she'd never really had the mind to realize she'd ever had a past with Fakir. And in that past, it seemed she'd broken his heart. She'd never do that now.

Fakir looked down, his black hair covering his face, and then looked up sharply. His grip around Swan-Ahiru tightened.

"Even if she doesn't love me back, I never would have had the intention to kill your Son. You should pay for turning her into a duck and making her feel less of a girl...a human, a Princess. You should pay for trying to manipulate me to kill the Prince I was trying to protect. You took something from me, I took something from you. It was never intentional."

Ahiru swallowed. _Doesn't Love him back... _Did he still love her? She looked up at him, his eyes still hard on his enemy. Even if she could speak words, she didn't have

"Ah the noble Knight defends his actions as pure and right...and still...I intend to bring back my son...the dark magic I need to perform requires a sacrifice." His eyes were silver, but Fakir saw blood red in them.

"I tried Master...but the girl...the white swan-" Ahira protested.

"Has been painted red I see. Has the Knife chose another?" He looked rather cool about the miss-hit.

"I wouldn't let you." Fakir protested.

Ahiru felt Fakir's arms around protectively her. Her wing stinging with the ache of the blade. She couldn't fly. She probably couldn't defend Fakir or herself like this. She hadn't thought past saving Fakir from Ahira's blade the first time. She felt the feeling of helplessness overcome her, just as it did when she couldn't remove Mytho's heart shard from her necklace. She had another heart she needed to save, and once again she was helpless.

But Fakir had made her feel better. He'd helped her become at peace with being a Duck and now he was fighting for her freedom as a Human. She'd never expected that her real identity _was _Princess Tutu. Maybe the reason she hadn't thought before saving Fakir, was it was never a question of thinking about it...it was automatic. His life over hers. He'd saved her once, she owed him that much if not more.

"Then sacrifice yourself young Knight. You have no blade, I destroyed that. I can only awaken my true power with that sacrifice and I will not stop until I get it." Sorcerer Kuro was nothing but sure that he would win.

"You'll have to stop me, I won't just give up." Fakir said first, holding his ground.

"Ah, but I have power on my side and you have no where to go? Forests and darkness are my forte!"

"Fine, but only tell me first how I can reverse the spell on Ahiru!" He said challenging him, full force. If he wasn't going to get anywhere with this, at least

"Hmm...even without your sword, you won't go down without a fight. Well, I guess a trade is fair." He turned to Ahira who was slightly stunned her maker would sacrifice her so quickly. "You'd have to kill her Yin. Only then would she get her own body back...the moon cannot give her freedom tonight...and when the light touches her wings she will be stuck as a swan forever, just as she was a duck." Kuro distanced himself from them by floating up higher in the air.

"How about...if you can destroy her Yin before the sun sets...I'll consider letting you have your fairy tale ending...if not...well someones going to die as my sacrifice."

Fakir thought for a minute, and looked down at Ahiru, still tight in his arms, her blood staining his shirt. "I won't let him win. I promise." He whispered it to him, loud enough so only she could hear. She looked back at him with worried eyes. He took out his hand as if to shake.

"I'll do it."

"Good, here take this you'll need it." Kuro took his hands together flat, and separated them horizontally, and the air between became a sword. He gleamed at him, confidently. "What is a knight without his sword? It cannot resist black magic like it once did, but it will kill what it needs to." He dropped it into Fakir's outstretched hand. He looked to his creation, his Yin. "I'm sorry my pretty black bird, but you had a purpose, and you will fulfill it." With a snap of his fingers Ahira was a black swan again.

Fakir nestled White-Swan-Ahiru in his left arm, and held out his sword in his right. It felt familiar. Too familiar, as if he really was a Knight again. He questioned Kuro's method for changing the Yin back into a swan, if it still had keepers over Ahiru's body.

"Now, my dear Fakir, you did figure out our past, but did you figure out the present? Clever Knight, did you figure out why I had set such black feathers out on each door step?" He looked at Fakir dangerously.

"As a warning. To tell us of your presence and what was coming..." Fakir suggested, rather confidently.

"Well that...and each feather, on the blackest night, like the blackest swan, they would lay themselves in the hearts of the people who had found one on their doorstep, and awaken the black bird beast in their heart." He said. Fakir looked hesitantly back at him.

"Basically, your chances of finding the Yin, are one in a hundred or so." He put out his arms presenting-like and a swarm of black swans flew from the air and surrounded Fakir, one no different from the next. Fakir knew too well, one wrong guess and he would kill someone from the town; each of these swans were towns people. He had been tricked. He had a hundred of black swans in his midst, one of them Yin, and only a short time before the sun reached the horizon, the night stars already disappearing into the sky.

It truly was the blackest of nights.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: From Fast to Slow, A Hundred Black Swans, And One Sharp Blow**

Fakir watched in horror as the hundreds of swans started to dance swan lake. Each of them mirroring the others in a midst of hundreds, all out on the open grass under the dark sky, before the husk of the forrest trees and reflective lake. How could he tell one from the other? What difference was there?

He ran. Swiftly, keeping an eye on each one.

He ran with Ahiru under his arm, hoping one would stick out. Hoping Ahiru might recognize her Yin. Ahiru was going to loose all chance of being herself again, of escaping the grasps of Drosselmeyer's story. A human. Now she'd be stuck a swan if he didn't find the Yin...he wasn't even sure if he could be happy with that...but his selfish thoughts needed to be pushed away.

What could make one stick out from the other? Their feathers were the same ebony black, reminding him eerily of the raven-people. Their long necks were the same length. Their wings the same. What could make a true difference?

He looked at Ahiru, who too, even as a White Swan, was staring intently at the mass group of swans, as if she too could pick out her evil twin. Refusing to give up. Her blue eyes darting from black dancing swan to swan.

Her eyes.

Blue.

He wondered, if Yin was taking the image of the person it was mirroring, than this swan too would likely have the same blue eyes as Ahiru. Not nearly as life-like and caring, but the color...would be the same sapphire color.

To be honest Ahiru's eyes were the bluest of blue he'd ever seen. He might be able to pick that out. He wove in and out of the birds, desperately looking, one from the next. Brown, hazel, green, blue...but not blue enough...mahogany...goldish...purple...He saw every color but not hers.

Soon, he felt as if they all blurred together. No matter how many eyes, it was as if he'd been looking at every black swan but her Yin's. He'd only gone through half or less of the group...that seemed to go on forever. He wondered how long of the night he'd already waisted.

"Hurry young Knight, the sun will rise soon, and all of your efforts will be for nothing." Kuro watched amused, entertained by the failure that Fakir was seemingly guaranteeing.

Fakir felt the sweat dribble down his forehead. He began to worry. But he couldn't. He had to keep calm, straight of mind...he couldn't miss the blue eyes...he couldn't for Ahiru's sake.

He kept moving, faster and faster, darting from eyes to eyes. Swan to Swan. Black to black. Feather to feather.

Fakir looked to the horizon, the sun's first few rays could be seen. Soon it would be over.

He looked. He was almost at the end, when he had a quick flash.

The quickest of jolts in his mind, and he turned around and stepped back a few steps. He swore he saw blue. The blue of Ahiru's eyes against the blackest of feathers.

The sun set.

He saw her.

He heard the Sorcerer yell in triumph.

"THE SUN HAS SET YOUNG KNIGHT FAKIR! YOU WILL MEET YOUR DOOM!"

Fakir didn't hesitate.

He took his sword, and for Ahiru's sake let her out of his grasp.

He brought it above his head.

And destroyed the two blue eyes that had destroyed Ahiru's few days as a human.

Feathers.

Black Magic.

He had not failed.

He had not killed an innocent.

The Yin became what she originally was.

A Spell.

A Trick.

And he waited for a small moment.

Waiting for the Sorcerer to strike.

Waiting for the sharp pain of the Dagger.

The Sun had set.

At least Ahiru could be free.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: What is A Trade, Without A Sacrifice**

He felt no pain.

Instead a gust of wind pushed him over.

A white wind.

A white bird.

A swan.

"God dammit Ahiru." He grumbled and pushed himself over to him, his shoulder aching from the hard fall.

He spotted her and swallowed hard.

She was injured.

She was still a bird.

"No, I got read of the Yin. She's supposed to be normal again." He thought, as he pushed himself closer to her. She'd been hit, but where? Why was she so intent on making sure he wasn't hurt!

The sorcerer just recoiled away from the scene, angry he'd once again missed his target.

"The Swan Princess loves the the Prince, not the Knight! Why does she still sacrifice herself?"

Fakir stared in anger at the sorcerer. He was too mad, to powerful. He had sacrificed a whole town into darkness, and now he was willing to kill anyone else. He wasn't angry because he'd injured Ahiru, only that he didn't miss.

Suddenly Fakir saw a light behind him.

He turned and saw that they were extremely close to the lake, and on the ground instead of a white swan he finally saw Ahiru. Normal. Human. It must be her right?

"Ahiru?" He pulled himself over closer. He inhaled sharply.

She'd been fortunate enough to have not been hit once again, in any way that could cause her permanent damage, a deep scratch on her arm where it had hit her wing. But for god sakes her leg had a black hole in it, as if the dagger had magically disappeared and left only a black mark. What had it done? Was she alive? Had she knocked her head on the fall?

Was this Drosselmeyer's plan? Causing his own heir grief for ruining his last tragedy? For allowing a happy ending instead of the tragic pain he'd planned?

"Ahir-" He looked down at her.

Her eyes fluttered as she gasped air in.

"Is it you?"

She looked up to see Fakir. She nodded. She had her body back! She actually had her body back! She was human again! But was Fakir okay? Did she-

Suddenly she felt the pain in her leg.

"Can you stop trying to save me? You're never going to be able to stay human if you kill yourself."

She focused her eyes, to see Fakir's hand in front of her.

She took it and gingerly lifted herself up, leaning against his back. Her leg was shaky. She felt the way it burned, as if the dagger had cursed her, a tingling pain.

Fakir's grip hardened on the sword.

"So what do you plan to you? You have no magic sword? Your Princess Tutu isn't anything but a normal human as you'd wished! You can't defeat me, and soon my son will live." Sorcerer Kuro's eyes flared red, his sharp gaze at them, his dark magic flourishing around him as the story was coming alive again.

"Your son won't live. You didn't kill me. Your plan failed." Fakir stepped in front of Ahiru. She wasn't playing hero this time. He was the Knight. He would stop this.

"Ah, but my dagger did hit someone...and it seems the dark magic has already invaded her body. The loss of the Yin was a small price to pay...I used to think revenge on you, young Knight, would be to give your life for killing my son, but now it seems the real revenge lies in watching you suffer as your Princess Tutu of the Lake succumbs to my spell. You're heart is too kind Princess, you could have survived longer than this."

Fakir turned to see Ahiru's blue eyes widen, larger then they'd ever had. She looked at her leg, the black magic, like poison, now taking her away through his evil spell. Drosselmeyer's prologue was becoming a tragedy...and Fakir felt helpless. A life for a life. All so the Sorcerer's son could be revived from the dead.

"Of course if you'd been hit in the heart, where the soul really lies it would not take so long...so your white swan will Suffer! You may not have chosen the Odile over the Odette...but interfering is a choice you will soon regret! So...young Knight...how can you save your Prince now? My son will soon return and this world and the next will be mine!"

His silver hair, almost matched the white of his evil smile. His lean body, engulfed in his power, full of rage.

"Why can't you just bring your son back? Are you not powerful enough?"

"So you want to try to by her freedom by tricking me into a power trip? Ha, young Knight, you do not know of magic as you once did! You have to trade one for the other! How did the Raven become a Raven? He sold his soul to darkness, and doomed himself to an evil bird form for power! How did I become so powerful? My hair turned silver grey, for I am years beyond what my true age should be! You must trade, for power, for magic!"

"Then I will change the story! I can...I'm-"

"Drosselmeyer's last living relative? I know! Did you think I came here, without knowledge of the last story? I am aware of it all. The Raven made that mistake! You cannot re-write what has been written! Just like an author cannot change a story about a dog into a story about a cat half way through! You cannot do much with your pen and ink young man! You cannot rewrite the rules of magic halfway through the plot!"

Fakir felt his grip harden so hard his fingers reached his own palms and dug into his palm. There must be a way...there had to be...a way. But His words were terribly true.

"If I could become Princess Tutu again...I could help..." Ahiru said in a small voice.

"I don't know how...you were Tutu before because of the heart shard. I see now that it was a trade; Myhto's heart shard piece for your ability to become Princess Tutu and not be a duck. I can't take a shard from Prince Mytho and -"

"But I can't just sit here and- and-" Ahiru had tears in her eyes. She felt the wave of helplessness that was taking over Fakir as well. Fakir swallowed hard, knowing the word she couldn't bring herself to say, was in fact 'die'.

He couldn't write with the Sorcerer around, with them cornered, in the mist of the dancing black swans. Even then, he'd have to trade something...something that was important to him...to even have a chance to have any kind of way of winning...if thats how magic worked.

But Ahiru couldn't become Princess Tutu without her heart shard necklace and his sword was a hunk of metal...so he too could not become the true Knight he had been intended to be.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: I'll Give My Heart For You**

"Admit it. I win. In a matter of minutes, your dear Ahiru will become inflicted with my dark magic; the black swan may not have fooled the knight, but soon the white swan will become black! I will have a spirit, and you will die by the hand of my son and I, young knight! I will find a way to the Kingdom of Mytho, and they will soon be nothing but birds...everyone will honor my power!" Kuro raged, singing out his proud victory.

Fakir looked to Ahiru who was leaning on him. Even if he could find a way to bring Princess Tutu back, Ahiru was too injured. Her leg was becoming black...the darkness slithering around her, seeping into her...taking her from him.

He swallowed. Ahiru didn't deserve this. But what could he sacrifice to give himself an advantage? To give himself the power he needed to make his sword powerful against the Sorcerer?

"Fakir. If I have another heart shard...can I become Princess Tutu? Can I at least save the others from being swans?"

Fakir looked down at her, leaning on his shoulder, her face inches from his. Her blue eyes were so caring, she was willing to use the rest of her energy to save the towns people; the same people who didn't even know the true her, and only knew the cruel fake Ahira.

"How can I give you a shard? I can't take Mytho's again...I can't interfere...their story doesn't need to be intertwined and torn apart again." Fakir knew it was the truth. She needed a heart shard to become Tutu...at least until Kuro was dead...maybe then they could become their true forms...

He felt Drosselmeyer's notebook in his chest pocket. He had nothing to sacrifice to give himself the power of his sword; he would not trade Ahiru for that power, his foster-father was likely already a black swan...and he could not trade this book...for the book was the only way he could write in any trade for power into the story. But Ahiru...

Could he let Ahiru sacrifice herself...and live with that decision?

He nodded to her and swiftly took her behind a tree as she stared with curious eyes.

"You think you can hide? Play games all you want but you cannot hide from my dark magic!" Kuro outstretched his hand, and suddenly as the black swans spun, their feathers like daggers began to fly off them at every angle.

Under the protection of the tree, Fakir looked to her. "If this is what you want Ahiru, I'll help you do it. I promise I will try to find a way to bring back power to my sword...but in the mean time...my sword is going to have to be my pen."

"Fakir, what could you possibly do?" She was scared of what Fakir meant.

"Save the others, and I will find a way to save you!" He said his eyes tearing from hers to the book. He didn't want to do this. He wasn't even sure he could find a way to stop Kuro...but he couldn't deny Ahiru the ability to save others when he had an answer. He took the ink pen he'd kept tucked away in the book and wrote.

Ahiru waited. His furious writing in the red sun of the morning, and the black feathers darting around them made her stomach turn under their bleak circumstances.

Suddenly she heard him moan.

"Umhhph."

She looked up and saw his chest was rippling.

"Oh Fakir what did you-"

"Take this...take my heart shard...become Princess Tutu...I wrote it into this story...just fight...and then I will find a way to stop your ...pain..." He grunted as a red shard, escaped his chest and he panted. He'd always wondered what it had felt for Mytho to have your heart separated.

Ahiru took it in her hands, a small red gem. "Fakir I can't- I-"

"It's my heart shard of strength...you'll need it. You can return it when you are finished with it. In the mean time I'll find my strength somewhere else...I need to find a way to help you...I'll figure out something I can trade for my sword." He looked at her and smiled weakly. "Take it and turn into Tutu. Just don't hurt yourself."

"Fakir..." Her eyes teared up and she hugged him. He groaned as his chest was still surprisingly sore, however...he appreciated feeling her hug more than she'd know.

She looked down at the heart shard of strength and it now looked like her necklace. Just like Fakir had wrote.

"I am Princess Tutu!"

Suddenly a bright light appeared from behind the tree. Kuro wondered what possibly the two had been up to to produce such light...but he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Show yourself? Stop hiding young fools! Nothing you could have done could stop me!"

"I will stop you! I will stop you from making these people into your puppets! I will let Fakir find his power and I will use his strength to the best of my ability! I am Princess Tutu! My feathered friends dance with me..."

Suddenly she danced the dance of the swan princess, with more grace and strength than one should have with an injured leg.

"How could you become the Princess if you had no shard to escape my curse? You are supposed to be a duck but your Knight wrote you as a human; which fit my purposes so well! Thank you Knight...but now... a Princess? How did you attain a shard if-"

"Ah, so the Knight decided to brush up on hi penmanship and sacrificed a shard so you could fight his battle...really that is so noble of you..." Kuro cackled, teasing him.

Fakir was not scared. He was angered by Kuro's tease...but he worried that, now that he felt his strength gone...the stregnth of his heart...could he be strong enough to push past Kuro's barriers and find a cure for the Princess AND find a way to give himself the true power he needed to destroy Kuro before it was too late...

He looked at Ahiru. She had his shard...she was using it well...the swans were dancing to her tune now...she was filling her hope and love up against Kuro's dark power, like she once did against the Raven.

He swallowed hard every time he saw her leg faulter...the blackness did not grow as fast on Princess Tutu as it did Ahiru...maybe his strength did do more for her then he had assumed it would.

He looked to his book. What could create power in his sword to defeat dark magic? Could he even think of anything to trade? If Ahiru's power came from his heart shard...could a heart shard of something else power his sword? Could a feeling alone do such a thing? Did he know of a feeling much stronger than evil? Did his sword ever really have magic...did he need to trade something...or could you just give it the power through your own feeling to do so?

He shook his head. Too much questioning himself. But I guess thats what happens when you don't feel so confident or strong. He found it strange that he could recognize his own lack of strength because he knew he was missing it. It was a terrible feeling...he didn't envy Mytho.

Princess Tutu began to feel the pain. The darkness creeping up her leg. But she'd just have to keep going. No matter how many tears. The swans had stopped spinning their feathers like daggers. She'd fight the dark aura that Kuro was spreading until she couldn't dance anymore. She had faith that Fakir would find a way. Fakir had to. He just had to.


End file.
